Important Applications of Microbiology:
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| Microbiology and pharmaceutical research |
Some of the considerable applications of microbiology are as discussed below:
Microbiology is one the main
branches of applied sciences. It exceptional applications in the field of
medical microbiology, soil microbiology, food microbiology, water and
wastewater microbiology, extraction of metals, microbial technology, industrial
microbiology and environmental microbiology containing applications of
microorganisms as biosensors are discussed as fellow:
1.
Systematic study of Microorganism:
It give us the information about various types of microorganisms
which enables us to reveal their structural and functional aspects, identifying
and differentiating them, their classifications, naming, essential needs
regarding their nutrition, to isolate and purify them as pathogens of plant and
human, to develop phylogenetic relationships (relationships of various
developmental stages during the evolution of an organism) and to interpret the
origin of life itself.
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| systematic study of microorganisms |
2. Microorganisms as a source of food:
Besides edible fungi such as mushrooms, microorganisms are also
now used in the production of single cell protein in the form of bacteria,
cyanobacteria, yeasts, and fungi as animal feed or human food. Japan, Mexico,
Taiwan, Thailand, Israel, and America produces algal microbes on large scale.
Various microbe synthesizing products are now utilized as human food such as
cellulose or lignocellulose. Animal feed are also based on different microbial
products.
3.
Fermented Food Products:
Microorganisms are
utilized in the manufacture of a large number of fermented foods such as
sourdough bread, leavened bread, flavours and fermented milk products. The
fermented milk products include cheese, yoghurt and many other products.
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| Fermentation by microorganisms |
4.
Fermented Vegetables:
The important fermented
vegetables are sauerkraut that is obtained from cabbage and Kimchi obtained
from fermented vegetables in Korea.
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| Various fermented vegetables |
5.
Fermented meats and Fermented Fish:
Fermented fish and fermented meats are utilized in various parts
of the world because of their increasing retentivity, otherwise the fish and
meats are extremely perishable.
6.
Fermentation and Beverage Products:
Beer, rice wine, tempeh, vinegar, soya sauce too are fermented
products.
7.
Preservation of Food:
Microbiology has been playing vital role in preservation of food
by appertization and pasteurization that is commercially sterile food and by
heat processing, prevention of spoilage of canned food, irradiation, aspectic
packaging, ionizing radiation, UV radiation, high pressure processing that is
low temperature storage, pascalization and chemical preservation ( esters,
organic acids, sulphur dioxide and nitrites).
Food microbiology gives the tools for prevention of food borne
illness caused by bacterial and non-bacterial agents. The food borne illness
agents among the nematodes and helminthes are Platyhelminthes that are
tapeworms and liver flukes and roundworms such as Trichinella spiralis. Among
the protozoa, the agents that are causing food borne diseases are Entamoeba
histolytica and Giardia lamblia.
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| Various Food Preserves |
8.
Microbial Diseases:
Microorganisms are the leading cause of several diseases which
are spreading worldwide and causing serious health issues. Microbiology
provides a number of tools for the treatment and control of such diseases.
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| Cholera vector illustration |
9. Industrial Microbiology:
Various products obtained from microbial metabolism after
microbial processing of raw material have been produced on industrial scale.
These include high value drugs, chemicals, fuels and electricity.
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| Microbiology in different industrial processes |
10. Microbes as a Source of Enery:
Several substrates can be utilized
as a source of energy such as methanogenic bacteria are source of biogas. The methanococcus
and methanobacterium produce methane gas by utilizing CO2 as an
electron acceptor. In japan, for the faster production of methane gas, a new
specie of methanobacterium has been evolved that is M. cadomensis 23 strain.
Ethanol can also be utilized for the manufacture of gasohol by mixing 20
percent ethanol and 80 percent gasoline.
11.
Degradation of cellulose and lignin:
Trichoderina reesei can be utilized degrading cellulose because
it is producing extracellular cellulase. The white rot fungus Sporotrichum
pulverulentum which is a cellulase negative organism, whoever a mutant of it
has been produced which can degrade wood and kraft lignocellulase actively. Now
biological pulp has been produced in the absence of any chemical treatment for
delignification
12.
Mining and Extraction of Metals:
Pyrite (FeS2) and
chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) can be
degraded by utilizing Thiobacillus ferroxidants and a combination of
Thiobacillus organoparpus and Leptospirillium ferroxidants. Iron and sulphur
can be oxidized by using archaeal species S.brierlevi and Sulfolobus
acidocaldarius that depends on CO2 or other simple organic compounds
for energy. These archeobacterial specie can also degrade chalcopyrite (CuFeS2)
and Pyrite (FeS2).
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| Metal extraction process |
13.
Recombinant DNA and genetic recombination:
Manufacturing and manipulating genetic material in vitro that is
genetic engineering has produced extremely wonderful products such as
Recombinant DNA. The genetic recombination is the process of joining DNA from
various sources. Different microorganisms have been used to isolate several
number of restriction enzymes and restriction endonucleases that have the
abilities to cleave or cut double stranded DNA leaving staggered ends.
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| DNA cutting and manipulation |
14.
Hybridoma and preparation of monoclonal antibodies:
A cell which is made by combining antibody-producing B cell with
a cancer cell is called as Hybridoma. The resulting hybridoma cells or myeloma contain
properties of both parent cells immortality and can also secrete considerable
amount of a single specific type of antibody. This phenomenon was discovered by
Kohler
15.
Harvesting DNA biotechnology for various public health
engineering programmes:
These programmes include manufacturing of an antiviral protein
that is interferon prepared by specific animal cells in response to a viral
infection, production of somatotrophin that is a human growth hormone, production
of human insulin and production of several other vaccines and hormones
The vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, tetanus, viral hepatitis
type A and type B, pertussis, influenza, plague, mumps, measles (rubella)
poliomyelitis, rabies, typhoid, typhus, rubbela, and yellow fever have been prepared so far.
16.
Microbes as Biofertilizers:
Microbial technology of nitrogen fixation exploiting symbiotic
Microbial technology involves the nitrogen fixation by symbiotic
microoganisms having association with higher or lower plants and nonsymbiotic
or asymbiotic relationship that involves the nitrogen fixation by
microorganisms independently. The main enzymes that are responsible of
converting molecular nitrogen to ammonia involves nitrogenases.
17.
Making smarter and faster computers:
The Archaeobacterium Halobacterium halobium are growing in
nature in solar evaporation ponds that have excessive concentration of salts.
These salty ponds are present around San Francisco Bay located on the Western
coast of USA.
It has been investigated that when the cell of Halobactrium
halobium is broken down, it fragments into two main fractions which are red and
purple in colour. The purple fraction plays important role in manufacturing
computer chips. The protein which is responsible for purple colour is referred
to as bactriorhodopsin.
Robert Birge at Syracuse University’s Centre of Molecular
Electronics has grown Halobacerium halobium in 5-litre batches and has
extracted the protein bacteriorhodopsin from the cells and developed the
computer chips which are made up of a thin layer of bacteriorhodopsin.
The chips that are prepared from bacterial sources have the
capacity to store more information as compared to conventional silicon chips
and can process the information as fast as human brain. These chips must be
stored at -4°C.
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| DNA chip: DNA micro-array |
