Microorganisms play an important role in our lives. Some of them are beneficial and called friendly microorganisms, whereas some other are harmful and cause diseases.
Friendly Microorganisms:
Microorganisms are useful in many ways, such as;
-
-
- Making in curd and bread.
- Commercially use in preparation of alcoholic beverage and vinegar.
- Use in medical for production of antibiotics and vaccines.
- Increase soil fertility.
- Cleaning the environment.
-
Making in curd and bread:
Bacteria known as lactobacillus is responsible for converting milk into curd. These bacteria use the lactose sugar as food and convert it into lactic acid during anaerobic respiration. The lactic acid converts milk into curd.
Similarly, bacteria and yeasts are also helpful fermentation of rice idlis and dosa batter.
Fermentation: A chemical process, which occurs due to presence of enzymes by which molecules such as glucose are broken down anaerobically and produce alcohol/acid and carbon dioxide.
Commercial Use of Microorganisms:
Yeast is used for commercial production of alcohol and wine. For this purpose, yeast is grown on natural sugars which ferment the sugar and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Medicinal Use of Microorganisms:
In medical science microorganisms use widely to produce antibiotics and vaccines.
Antibiotics:
Bacteria and fungi are use to prepare antibiotics. Antibiotics are medicines that are used to kill or stop the growth of the disease-causing microorganisms. In 1929 Alexander Fleming discovered first antibiotic ‘penicillin’ by chance when he was working on a culture of disease-causing bacteria. Now-a-days a number of antibiotics are being produced from bacteria and fungi. Such as; Streptomycin, tetracycline, erythromycin etc. Many bacterial diseases cured by antibiotics. But they are not effective against viral diseases.
Antibiotics should be taken only on the advice of a qualified doctor. Also, we must complete the course prescribed by the doctor.
Vaccine:
A substance prepared from weakened causative microbes of disease which is used to develop acquired immunity against one or several diseases is called vaccine.
When a disease-causing microbe enters our body, the body produces antibodies to fight the invader. The body also remembers how to fight the microbe if it enters again.
Vaccination has been a huge success and diseases like small pox have eradicated. Many diseases like polio, tetanus, and measles have been reduced to a large extent.
Pulse Polio is a large-scale program to eradicate polio from India. This program is being run by the United Nations; in coordination with the Government of India. All children under five years of age are given polio drops; under this program. Pulse Polio has been highly successful against eradication of polio.
Increasing Soil Fertility:
Nitrogen is an essential element for the organisms as it is constituent of proteins and nucleic acids. Nitrogen makes 78% of the total air but plants cannot take nitrogen from air as like carbon dioxide. Plant’s take nitrites and nitrates with water from the soil through their roots.
Some bacteria like; Cyanobacteria, Nostoc, Azotobacter, Rhizobium are able to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere to enrich soil with nitrogen and increase its fertility. These microbes are commonly called biological nitrogen fixers.
Cleaning the Environment:
Many microbes are saprotrophic and feed on dead remains of plants and animals. These microbes play the role of decomposers. Thus, microbes help in clearing organic waste from our surroundings.
Microorganisms decompose dead organic waste of plants and animals converting them into simple substances. These substances are again used by other plants and animals.