Putting bacteria to work

Putting bacteria to work

Microorganisms

Microorganisms are extremely small and tiny living things that often found in the bodies of living things. The microorganisms are called the microbes and are not easily seen with our naked eyes due to their tiny nature. There are several known examples of bacteria, which include protozoa, algae and many more others. Microbes are often looked down on and not well appreciated since they are known to because of many diseases to humans; hence they are under-studied in most cases, it is hard to know they exist though they cause food spoilage. In the invention of the microscope, the microorganisms have been able to be seen as the cause of many diseases, and they are found everywhere except in the environment that humans have sterilized well enough. Microorganisms live in the soil, water, on the skin, and the digestive tract of animals.

Wastewater can be harmful to the environment and the survival of the living thing in the environment. If wastewater is left untreated, it may prove to be a threat to the survival of the living organisms in the environment; for this reason, wastewater can be the source of bacterial contamination and water-borne diseases (Adefisoye, 2016). Due to the microorganisms, treating water has become possible and more comfortable since it’s a natural way of water treatment. Organisms are useful biological ways in water treatment since they purify the water and make it better and less harmful to the environment. Many microbes are used in the sewage treatment, for instance, the bacteria, the protozoa fungi, and Yeast are brought together to remove the water toxics for example the heavy metals that are found in water, reasons for treating the wastewater is to make sure that the other water sources are protected to against to reduce the spread of diseases to the public. Biological treatment processes take advantage of the microorganisms.

Bacteria are regarded as the most significant microorganisms in food processing. Most of the bacteria are harmless and are considered to be of tremendous benefit to food production. The usefulness of the microorganisms in the food industry is seen in wine production, beer making, and baking purposes and dairy functions. However, the micro bacteria are also seen to be responsible for food spoilage but are used in a controlled amount to avoid spoiling the food; they contain the pathogens that contaminate the food if not well controlled, this particular effect may result to safety effects in the food making process. In food production, three groups of microorganisms are mostly used in the food production process; for instance, the molds, which are mainly concerned with the food spoilage hence their use id mostly limited during the food production process.

Yeast is also used in the food production process, due to its ability to ferment sugars into ethanol and carbon (IV) oxide, Yeast has been useful in the food industry to ferment beer, and in the bakery industry for the bread making, Yeast is used as the protein source in the animal feeds. Bacteria are essential in the food industry and are divided into three, the lactic acid which is used as a food preservative and as a flavoring agent, the propionic acid which is also used as a flavoring agent in the cheese making and bread baking and the acetic acid which is used as a solvent in food production. Microbes are, therefore crucial in food production for the cheese making, beer, bread baking, and in the fermentation of various foods. To prevent the harmful microorganisms from getting into our bodies is the process of the fresh-cut, which is mostly employed; this is where industries and individuals result in the use of fresh vegetables and fruits where necessary and also taking them in our daily lives.

Microbial fuel

            Microbial fuel is the bio-electrochemical device that is made by harnessing the power of respiring microbes to converting them directly into electrical energy (Bose,2017 ). Microbial fuel is a more renewable fuel that makes a potential explore on the generation of energy through the use of electrons emitted from the microbes with the partial solution of bringing a reliable fuel based on electricity. The microbial fuel plan is often brought down by some limitations, which end up slowing down the plan advancement of microbial fuel development. Expensive electron manufacture makes the microbial fuel plan scale up beyond the industry’s expectations. However, recently, new electrons were brought that held a thorough understanding of the mechanism in which microorganism bacteria were used to transfer the electrons so that the particles increase to improve the power supply to the extreme, which leads to the success of the microbial fuel power supply. Research on microbiology has been undertaken to achieve microbial fuel radical possibilities. The microbial fuel allows the microbes to facilitate electron transfer in an attempt to generate a maximum electricity supply.

Industrial Microbiology

This is the scientific processing of microorganisms such as the bacteria, the fungi, the Yeast, protozoa, and viruses has led to the yield of beneficial products, for instance, in animal and plant cells. The manipulation of some of these microbial results to the production of the various profitable product, for example, the production of insulin was made possible through the transfer of human genes to the bacteria which can treat diabetes. Bacteria are the most significant microbial in the biotechnological field since some of its species like Escherichia and some portions of lactic acid some viruses have been brought out as the anti-cancer viruses. Yeast, on the other hand, is used in a broad spectrum application. A number of beneficial products such as the microbial polymers, primary and secondary metabolic, anti-biotic vaccines, and ethanol solutions are some of the favorable and useful products that are produced by the alteration of the microbial products. These products are helpful in the various disease treatments and the triggering of the immune system. Lastly, microbial are useful to the production of pharmaceutical proteins like the monoclonal antibodies, which are helpful in the body.

The curiosity need for studying these tiny organisms commenced with the scientist’s discoveries of the collaboration of the microorganisms to specific diseases. The leading roles of microbiology on the advances in healthcare diligence, more so in the pharmaceutical and medical industry, have led the most important inventions of vaccinations and other medicinal chemicals.  Microphages are able to adapt quickly, and they play an essential role in the body’s immune system since they are capable of ingesting the microbes that enter the body using the open wounds in a human’s body. Bacteria and human cells, when brought together, allow the pharmacists to come up with an antimicrobial drug that can prevent a reasonable number of infectious diseases. Furthermore, the growth of the cosmetic industry was also due to the microbial improvement that paved the way for cosmetic microbiology.

Microbial Taxonomy

Microbial taxonomy is the means by which the microbial are grouped together, that is, the microorganisms that have the most similar characteristics with respect to the format, and the criteria are given (Gama, 2016 ). The organisms in the same taxonomy group are separated from the other groups due to their differences noted. In determining the taxonomic units, a number of criteria are used in differentiating the classes, for example, the numeric characteristics, the common bacteria, and the phenotypic characteristic, which are the physical appearances of the microbes. Also, we can use the genetic features of the bacteria to group the microorganisms in the various taxonomy classes.

Biotechnology

            Biotechnology is the study area of biology that involves the living organisms at its simples based on biological factors. It’s a biology field that harnesses the cellular and the bio-molecular technological process of generating products that help to improve the lives of human beings and also taking care of their healthy growth. We use biological processes often in our daily today lives, either in the generation of medication or in the food production industry. Biotechnology helps in healing the world in many ways by the use of our genetic makeup. It helps us in reducing the stress of infectious diseases and saving millions on lives. By the use of biotechnology to make medications, we can reduce the life-threatening situations around us. Biotechnology and tailoring treatments are able to minimize health risks and side effects of various illnesses.

On the other hand, biotechnology is able to use the biological processes, for instance, fermentation and bio-catalyzing of enzymes, yeast cells, and many other microorganisms to bring about manufacturing plants (Okafor, 2016 ). Biotechnology is useful in fueling the world in many ways such as, by improving the manufacturing process for efficiency, reducing the over-reliance of the petrochemicals which are not natural and safe decreasing the use of water more so in electricity generation by using the microbes and the reformation of manufacturing chemical steps.  Additionally, biotechnology helps in improving crop pest resistance by generating tolerant herbicides, which are more suitable for farming practices; this helps in creating high yields without putting a lot of effort into the inputs. Using the recommended biotechnological crops helps in getting more and healthy returns that are free from allergens and toxins compared to the healthy plants. Doing things with biotechnology in mind helps us get a breakthrough in technologies that keeps us away from diseases by getting rid of environmental problems such as hunger and sicknesses.

Bacterial taxa

Bacterial taxonomy is the process that is concerned with the naming and ranging of the bacteria as per their similarities and differences (Zhang, 2017). It is the process of classifying the bacteria into there respective groups considering the various criteria. Bacteria are prokaryotic microbes that make them fit in the particular group, which are always defined considering the unique structural and biochemical characteristics of body cells. The discipline that is concerned with the assigning of names and classes of an organism is known as nomenclature. The bacteria are classified into three separate groups, which are related classes; they include the taxis, which is the order, the nomos, which is the law, the nenein, which means govern. All the groups in the taxonomy have their members who have similar features and characteristics as per the given criteria.

Work Cited

Adefisoye, M. A., & Okoh, A. I. (2016). Identification and antimicrobial resistance prevalence of pathogenic Escherichia coli strain from treated wastewater effluents in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Microbiologyopen, 5(1), 143-151.

Bose, D., & Bose, A. (2017). Electrical Power Generation with Himalayan Mud Soil Using Microbial Fuel Cell. Nature Environment & Pollution Technology, 16(2).

Gama, M., Dourado, F., & Bielecki, S. (Eds.). (2016). Bacterial nanocellulose: from biotechnology to bio-economy. Elsevier.

Okafor, N. (2016). Modern industrial microbiology and biotechnology. CRC Press.

Zhang, H., Wang, R., Chen, S., Qi, G., He, Z., & Zhao, X. (2017). Microbial taxa and functional genes shift in degraded soil with bacterial wilt. Scientific reports, 7(1), 1-11.