MICROBES IN HUMAN WELFARE

 

MICROBES IN HUMAN WELFARE




Introduction

• Microbes are microorganisms, which have a size of lower than0.1 mm.

 • Microbes do everyplace in air, soil, water, outside and outdoors bodies of other organisms, inside thermal reflections or geysers (with a temperature of 100 °C)etc.

 • Microbes can be grown on artificial culture media where they form colonies, e.g., bacteria, fungi.

 • During their metabolism, microbes produce chemicals, some of which have been in use by human beings since periods.

 • A important assiduity grounded on microbes has been developed in recent time. A careful selection of microbial strains, bettered system of extraction and purification of the products, have redounded in enormous yields.

 • The use of living organisms in systems or processes for the manufacture of useful products may involve algae, bacteria, fungi, yeast, cells of advanced plants & creatures or subsystems of any of these or insulated factors from living matter.

 MICROBES IN HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS

 Microbes have played an important part in the medication of ménage products.

 CURD

 • A common illustration is the product of curd from milk. Micro-organisms similar as Lactobacillus and others generally called lactic acid bacteria (LAB) grow in milk and convert it to curd. During growth, the LAB produce acids that coagulate and incompletely digest the milk proteins.

 • A small quantum of curd added to the fresh milk as inoculum or starter contain millions of LAB, which at suitable temperatures multiply, therefore converting milk to curd, which also improves its nutritive quality by adding vitamin B12. In our stomach too, the LAB play veritably salutary part in checking complaint causing microbes.

 • For product of curds or yoghurt pasteurized milk is inoculated with a mixture of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus and its lactose is instigated by keeping it at 40 °C.

 • The peculiar or characteristic taste and flavor of curds is due to presence of lactic acid and acetaldehyde.

 • In India, curds aren't generally commercially produced but in advanced countries large scale manufacture of yoghurt is done. In U.S.A. alone about 75 lakh kilogram of yoghurt is manufactured every time.

 DOUGH

 • The dough, which is used for making foods similar as dosa, idli, jalebi and bread is also fermented by bacteria. The puffed-up appearance of dough is due to the product of CO2 gas. Also the dough, which is used for making chuck, is fermented using baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

 TODDY

 • A number of traditional drinks (e.g.'Todi' prepared from sap of palms) and foods are also made by fermentation by the microbes.

 • Arrack is attained by distillation of fermented toddy. However, toddy becomes unpalatable as alcohol is changed to ginger, If allowed to raise for further than 24 hours.

 • Microbes are also used to raise fish, soyabean and bamboo shoots to make foods.

CHEESE

 •Cheese is incompletely degraded concentrate of milk fat and casein manufactured by the exertion of microbes.

 • Different kinds of Cheese are known by their characteristic texture, flavour, taste and the particularity coming from the microbes used.

 • For illustration, the large holes in ‘Swiss cheese' are due to product of a large quantum of CO2 by a bacterium named Propionibacterium shermanii. The 'Roquefort cheese  are grew by growing a specific fungi on them, which gives them a particular flavour. Roquefort Cheese employs Penicillium roqueforti for growing.

 MICROBES IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS

 A variety of microbes are used to synthesize a number of artificial products precious to human beings.e.g.- potables and antibiotics.

Artificial product requires the conformation of large amounts of the product, which typically involves the microbial responses to do in a specialized vessel called fermentor or bioreactor.







 There are two types of fermentation process- batch fermentation (or closed system) and nonstop fermentation (or open system).

Downstream processing is the name given to the stage after fermentation when the asked product is recovered and purified.




YEAST

There are principally two types of yeasts –

 Baker's yeast

 Alcohol yeast or Brewer's incentive.

 Baker's yeast :- Baker's yeast is generally employed during the medication of food accoutrements to increase the taste of food, flavour in food and nutrients in food. It's grown on molasses. It's also employed as leavening agent. By the deficient declination of complex organic composites (sucrose) by yeast fermentation, alcohol is formed.

 

 Some other common products of yeast fermentation are

  Beer: It's produced from Hordeum vulgare (Barley) malt and alcohol content is 4-8%.

  Wine: It's produced from grapes, in which alcohol content is 10-20%.

  Brandy: It's produced by distillation of wine and alcohol content is 43-57%.

  Gin: It's produced from European rye-Secale cereale.

 Rum: It's produced from molasses of sugarcane and alcohol content is 40%.

 

ANTIBIOTICS

        The term antibiotic was chased by Selman Waksman (1942).

        An antibiotic is a substance produced by a micro-organism which in low attention and inhibits the growth and metabolic exertion of pathogenic organism without harming the host.

        Alexander Flemming was the first to produce an antibiotic ( named penicillin) from Penicillium notatum.

        Waksman and Albert discovered streptomycin and Actinomycin. Burkholder insulated Chloromycetin.

 Antibiotics are of two types

 Broad spectrum antibiotic: It's an antibiotic which can kill or destroy a number of pathogens that belong to different groups with different structure and wall composition.

Limited spectrum ( specific) antibiotic: It's an antibiotic which is effective only against one type of pathogens.

·       Action of Antibiotics: An antibiotic acts on pathogens by

·       Dislocation of wall conflation.

·       Dislocation of plasmalemma form and conflation.

·       ( Inhibition of DNA/ RNA/ Protein conflation.

Resistance to antibiotics Pathogens frequently develop resistance to being antibiotics and therefore, newer antibiotics are needed to be produced.

·       The resistance is produced due to

·       development of copious mucilage..

·       revision of cell membrane antibiotic can not recognize the pathogen.

·       change to L- form by pathogen.

·       mutation in pathogen.

 Main sources of antibiotic product are of three types-

Eubacteriales – Utmost of this type of antibiotic is attained from Bacillus sp (70%). Bacillus subtilis produces further than 60 antibiotics and Pseudomonas sp about 30%.

Actinomycetales (Ramified) – Streptomyces, Micromonospora and Streptosporangium. From single species Streptomyces griseus further than 40 antibiotics have been attained.

 Fungi – Penicillium.

STEROIDS

·  They're complex crystallisable lipids having a tetracyclic hydrocarbon core (one 5- carbon and three 6 carbon rings) and a long side chain.

·They're ingredients of hormones and some important biochemicals like cholesterol, progesterone, oestrogen, testosterone, cortisterone, and cortisone.

 ORGANIC ACID

Some organic acids are manufactured by employing fermentation conditioning of fungi and other bacteria. For e.g., Citric acid, ginger, lactic acid etc.

Citric acid

 It's attained by the aerobic fermentation of sucrose by the fungus Aspergillus niger. This acid is used in drug, flavouring excerpts, food and delicacies; the manufacture of essay, dyeing. It's also produced by yeast.

Acetic acid or Vinegar

 Vinegar product is a two step fermentation process

First step: Alcoholic fermentation of a carbohydrate into alcohol by incentive.

 Second step: Aerobic oxidation of alcohol into acetic acid by the bacterium Acetobacter

Lactic acid

 It's produced by fermentation of corn starch , molasses, potatoes and whey by Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus lactis. It's the first acid to be produced.

Gluconic acid

It's produced from glucose by fungi like Aspergillus, Penicillium and Mucor.

 Fumaric acid 

It's produced from sugar by exertion of Rhizopus nigricans (Bread mould).

 Butyric acid 

It's attained by Clostridium butylicum.

 INTERFERON

  Issac and Linderman observed that impunity due to the conformation of special answerable substances, produced by viral infected cells. This small group of protein is named-interferons.

 Interferon are the proteins released by the cells in response to a viral infection which they help to combat. These interferon don't inactivate the contagion, but they make the unattacked cells, lower susceptible so they're averted from the attack of contagion. They also help the contagions from taking over the cellular ministry.

 Interferon proteins have proved to be effective in treating influenza and hepatitis, but their part in cancer treatment is doubtful.

 Interferon is produced by Charles Weismann through the E.coli strain produced by recombinant DNA technology.

 There are three major types of interferons

1.    Interferon-α (INF-α, produced by leucocytes or white blood cells,)

2.    Interferon-β (INF-β, produced by fibroblasts), and

3.    Interferon-γ (INF-γ, produced by stimulated

4.    T-lymphocyte cells, hence also called vulnerable interferon.)

 INSULIN

  It's a proteinaceous hormone having 51 amino acids arranged in two polypeptides A and B having 21 and 30, amino acids, independently and joined by S-S disulphide islands.

  Sir Edward Sharpy-Shafer (1916) was the first to note that diabetes of some persons was because of failure of some pancreatic cells to produce a substance called insulin.

 The first genetically engineered insulin attained by recombinant DNA fashion with the help of E.coli was produced by the American enterprises, Eli-Lilly on July 5, 1983. It has been given the trade name humulin and has been approved for clinical use.

 VACCINES

Product of antibodies against antigens inside the body is the base of immunity. Process of inoculation of vaccines is called vaccination. Scientific base of vaccination was established by Louis Pasteur.

First vaccine, discovered by Edward Jenner is for smallpox.

A vaccine contains either weakened or indeed killed-attenuation pathogens (serum suspense with acridity) which still have antigens to induce antibody product. All these vaccines are called first generation vaccines. They're produced by conventional fashion.

Lately new vaccines are produced ( called second generation vaccines). These are produced by recombinant DNA technology ( inheritable engineering),e.g., Herpes contagion and Hepatitis-B vaccines. Rearmost vaccines produced synthetically or synthesized vaccines are called third generation vaccines.

 

 MICROBES IN SEWAGE TREATMENT

 Sewage is the waste and waste water produced by domestic and marketable sources and discharged into sewers.

 Dangerous goods of sewage are-

It produces offensive odour.Sewage contains pathogens like contagion, bacteria etc, which results in dispersion of water borne conditions caused by microorganisms.

Due to the addition of sewage and waste, oxygen situations of water are depleted, which are reflected in terms of BOD (Biological oxygen demand) values of water.

 The industrial and municipal waste water are treated in sewage treatment plant (STP) prior to disposal in water bodies.

 Sewage treatment system involves the following stages-

·       Primary treatment

·       Secondary treatment.

 Primary treatment: is a physical process of junking of large and small patches from sewage through successional filtration and sedimentation. All solids that settle form the primary sludge and the supernatant forms the effluent.

 Primary sludge can be used for preparing compost or ordure directly or used in the generation of biogas.

 Secondary treatment: of the liquid effluent from the primary settling tank is a natural process which involves microbial declination of organic matter.

 The primary effluent is passed into large aeration tanks where it's continuously agitated mechanically and air is pumped into it. This allows vigorous growth of useful aerobic microbes into flocs (millions of bacteria associated with fungal fibers to form mesh like structures).

This vastly reduces BOD of the effluent. The lesser the BOD of waste water, further is its contaminating eventuality.





  

Once the BOD of sewage is reduced the effluent is also passed into a settling tank where the bacterial flocs are allowed to deposition. This deposition is called activated sludge which is taken to anaerobic sludge digesters along with the primary sludge.

Then, anaerobic microbes act upon organic matter of first produced monomers and also organic acids. Methanogens also convert the ultimate into a admixture of feasts like methane, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide.

The effluent from the secondary treatment factory is generally released into natural water bodies like gutters and aqueducts.

 The ministry of environment and forests has initiated Ganga action plan and Yamuna action plan to save these major gutters of our country from pollution.

MICROBES IN PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS

 Biogas is a gassy energy which is attained by the anaerobic fermentation of beast wastes (like cattle soil, wastes, urine, faeces etc).

  In pastoral areas of developing countries, it's a common practice to use animal dung for making dung cakes which are used for energy. Therefore, a implicit toxin of the agrarian fields is wasted in burning.

 The dung  can be put to more use if it's used to induce biogas (gobar gas) and side by side a stabilised residue to serve as the fertiliser.The energy yield of biogas is lower than that of dung cakes but the effectiveness of biogas burners is veritably high. Therefore over all result indicates that product of biogas is further cost effective.

BIOGAS PLANT

  The biogas plant consists of a concrete tank (10-15 bases deep) in which bio-wastes are collected and a slurry of soil is fed. A floating cover is placed over the slurry, which keeps on rising as the gas is produced in the tank due to the microbial exertion. The biogas plant has an outlet, which is connected to a pipe to supply biogas to near houses. The spent slurry is removed through another outlet and may be used as fertilizer.

 Cattle dung is available in large amounts in pastoral areas where cattle are used for a variety of purposes. So biogas plants are more in pastoral areas. The biogas, therefore, produced is used for cooking and lighting.

  The technology of biogas production was developed in India substantially due to the sweats of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVlC). Biogas plant works grounded on the process called anaerobic digestion or fermentation of organic matter. Anaerobic fermentation of waste biomass can be visualised in three stages

  The facultative anaerobic microbes degrade the complex polymers to simple monomers by enzymatic action. The polymers like cellulose, hemicellulose, proteins and lipids get degraded into monomers but lignins and inorganic mariners are left as residue because they don't get degraded.

  In this the monomers are converted into organic acids by microbial action under incompletely aerobic conditions which are eventually converted to acetic acid.

  In this the acetic acid is oxidized into methane by the exertion of anaerobic methanogenic bacteria. These bacteria are generally plant in the anaerobic sludge during sewage treatment. These bacteria are also present in the rumen (a part of stomach) of cattle. A lot of cellulosic material present in the food of cattle is also present in the rumen. In rumen, these bacteria help in the breakdown of cellulose and play an important part in the nutrition of cattle. In this whole process digestion of cellulose takes place at a veritably slow rate so that it's the “ rate limiting factor in biogas production”.




 

ADVANTAGE OF BIOGAS

  Biogas can be fluently stored to give a more effective source of energy.

  It can be used for colorful purposes in addition to its use for cooking.

  One derivate of this process is a stabilized residue which serves as a good fertilizer.

 It reduces the overgrowth of faecal pathogens because of non-availability of exposed waste. Therefore, it's significant in perfecting sanitation.

 

MICROBES AS BIOCONTROL AGENTS AND  BIOFERTILIZERS

 

 Biological control is the use of living organisms to control pests.

 Exemplifications of Biological control are-

·       Bioherbicide It control weeds. First bioherbicide was developed in 1961 and it was a mycoherbicide deduced from a fungus Phytophthora palmivora which controls the growth of milkweed vines in citrus vineyards.

·  Ladybird and Dragonflies are useful to get relieve of aphids and mosquitoes, independently.

·       cochineal insect (Cactoblastis cactorum) to control of overgrowth of cacti.

·  Baculovirus These are pathogenic contagions, which infect and kill numerous nonentity pests and other arthropod pests.E.g. Nucleopolyhedro- contagion. Baculoviruses are known to control pests like potato beetles, aphids and sludge borers.

·       Biofertilizers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of soil.

·       Rhizobium and mycorrhiza serve as biofertilizers.

·       Rhizobium is a symbiotic bacterium, which occurs in the root nodes of legumes. It fixes nitrogen (atmospheric) in presence of leghaemoglobin.

·       Mycorrhiza refers to the symbiotic association between fungus and roots of advanced plants.

·       Azolla is a water fern which is an excellent biofertilizer for rice civilization.

 

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post