The Significance and Practical Applications of MICROBIOLOGY in Relation to BIOTECHNOLOGY

The Significance and Practical Applications of

MICROBIOLOGY in Relation to BIOTECHNOLOGY

GROUP 2

Questions and

Answers

1. Explain how microbes contribute in solving these current global problems:

a. Climate Change

b. Air/water/land pollution

c. Pandemics

A. Climate Change

Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are single celled cyanobacteria. Researchers estimate that Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus remove about 10 billion tons of carbon from the air each year; this is about two-thirds of the total carbon fixation that occurs in the oceans.

Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus

B. Air/Water/Land Pollution

Air Pollution

When applied to air filtration and purification, biofilters use microorganisms to remove air pollution. The air flows through a packed bed and the pollutant transfers into a thin biofilm on the surface of the packing material. Microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi are immobilized in the biofilm and degrade the pollutant. Trickling filters and bioscrubbers rely on a biofilm and the bacterial action in their recirculating waters.

B. Air/Water/Land Pollution

Water Pollution

To clean this Polluted water, it is put through the process of bioremediation, or the use of microorganisms to treat water that has been contaminated by hazardous materials. Water that has been cleaned by this method can then be released into the environment or even reused.

One method of bioremediation is called biogenic hydrogen sulfide precipitation technology.

B. Air/Water/Land Pollution

Land Pollution

Bacteria and fungi are usually most abundant in the rhizosphere, the area around the root where exudates are most abundant. By decomposing organic matter they play an essential role in controlling and making inorganic mineral nutrients available for plant uptake. Bacteria in the soil are essential in the cycling of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and sulfur. They also assist in making other major mineral nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, and iron available for plant uptake.

C. Pandemics

Scientific experiments which unravel the cause of influenza, had immediate preventative applications. They would assist in the effort to create a effective vaccine to prevent influenza. This was the ultimate goal of most studies, since vaccines were thought to be the best preventative solution in the early 20th century. Several experiments attempted to produce vaccines, each with a different understanding of the etiology of fatal influenza infection. The vaccines made for the British forces took a similar approach and were "mixed vaccines" of pneumococcus and lethal streptococcus. The vaccine development therefore focused on the culture results of what could be isolated from the sickest patients and lagged behind the scientific progress.

2. Identify and explain three critical roles microbes play in human health and survival?

Microbes on Digestive System

Not all microbes in the digestive system are beneficial. Bacteria, viruses and fungi can all cause intestinal infections. These illnesses are often accompanied by diarrhea and inflammation of the stomach and intestines. Infection by harmful bacteria can occur in several ways.

Microbes on the Skin

Bacteria can cause skin lesions, inflammation or boils. Infection of the skin by a virus can result in warts, as is the case with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and plantar warts. Athlete’s foot and jock itch are two examples of fungal infections of the skin.

…

Athlete’s Foot

Jock Itch

Previous studies have shown that the intensive treatment given to individuals receiving a stem cell transplant from a healthy donor can destroy a significant portion of the recipients’ gut microbiota and reduce its overall diversity.

3. Can you think of negative consequences if the principles and technology of microbiology will be exploited in the wrong way?

Surface Water Treatment Technique Microbiological Contaminants

If water is inadequately treated, microbiological contaminants in that water may cause disease. Disease symptoms may include diarrhea, cramps, nausea, and possibly jaundice, and any associated headaches and fatigue. These symptoms, however, are not just associated with disease-causing organisms in drinking water, but also may be caused by a number of factors other than your drinking water contaminants.

`

Total coliform

Total coliform bacteria are common in the environment (soil or vegetation) and are generally harmless. If a lab detects only total coliform bacteria in drinking water, the source is probably environmental and fecal contamination is unlikely. However, if environmental contamination can enter the system, pathogens could get in too. It is important to find and resolve the source of the contamination.

Fecal Coliforms/E. coli

The presence of these bacteria in drinking water generally is a result of a problem with water treatment or the pipes which distribute the water, and indicates that the water may be contaminated with organisms that can cause disease.

4. Discuss at least three possible ways where the applications in this field can help alleviate if not solve the economic problems in our country.

Nitrogen fixation

is a process found only in some bacteria which removes N2from the atmosphere and converts it to ammonia (NH3), for use by plants and animals. Nitrogen fixation also results in replenishment of soil nitrogen removed by agricultural processes.

Oxygenic photosynthesis

occurs in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. It is the type of photosynthesis that results in the production of O2 in the atmosphere. At least 50 percent of the O2 on earth is produced by photosynthetic microorganisms, and for at least a billion years before plants evolved, microbes were the only organisms producing O2 on earth. O2 is required by many types of organisms, including animals, in their respiratory processes.

Decomposition

results in the breakdown of complex organic materials to forms of carbon that can be used by other organisms. There is no naturally-occurring organic compound that cannot me degraded by some microbe, although some synthetic compounds such as teflon, styrofoam, plastics, insecticides and pesticides are broken down slowly or not at all. Through the metabolic processes of fermentation and respiration, organic molecules are eventually broken down to CO2 which is returned to the atmosphere.

5. Enumerate and explain three situations where the principles of microbiology can be applied in clinical practice of medicine.

Making of Medicines

The ability to correlate, evaluate, prioritize and synthesize information, including the relevant ethical issues acquired by history taking and physical examination. The resident should recognize and define problems and generate differential diagnosis and problem list.

The performance of molecular methods applied to the detection of micro-organisms and their virulence factors and to determine the epidemiologic links between isolates.