Aa s9sene no THE LABORATORY should be constantly aw isms ~ which may include a% ‘adhesive labels. and the rest of the laboratury ~ cl Hi necessary, use 3. Keep the bench 4. Dispose of all con into the proper container. 5, Leave contaminated pipettes, slides etc. in a suitable, for an appropriate time before washing/ster Avoid contaminating bacteria/spoces. An aerosol cunsists of minute to the insteuctor or demon- strator. 8. Wash your hands thoroughly before leaving the laboratory. (142, BACTERIOLOGICAL MEDIA ia) is any solid or Squid prepa growth, storage or transport of bacteria; when 1 ology is safe bacteriology, ancl it ‘any practical work: 44 Some practical bacteriology that he or she is or potential ‘wise to get to ory coat to protect un and tidy. inated wastes by placing them (not throwing them) active disinfectant ng them, enviconment with aerosols containing live omauroso 1m made specifically ised for growth, the ch hasasimple: jin seaweeds). A sol fabout 9 cm. The medium, ina molten eterotrophs (6 ot grow in basa! media, but may de so aft auedia. ‘hare used very commonly in bacteriology; this of asimple laboratory procedure. medium is commonly used lustrated in Fig. 16.2) ~ usually the size which has utile (Fig, 14.1) isa cylin (liquid) state, is poured into i dish containing the solid medium is th as E. cull) neud lia (Table V4.1). Many bacteria ter the addition of substances mm or blood; media which have been supplemented in this, unis one.which supports the growth of certain bacteria in ence to others. An example is MacConkey’s broth (Prble 141) = in yateriec bacte 1a but do not whibit entericom BACTERIA IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE OME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY of typhoid. Suppose, for example, that we need to imen of faeces from a suspected case of typhoid. The few cells of S. typhi, so that it may be difficult or impossible to detect them among the vast numbers of non-pathogenic enteric bacteria. However, ifan inoculum from the specimen is incubated in selenite trot, the proportion of cells of S. typhi increases to the point at which they “canbe detected more readily. F Ksolid medium isused, forexample, particular species, Many typi, the causal agent detect S. typhi in a speci specimen may contain only a Table 141 Some common types of bacteriological medium! Peptone water m oth? Nuttient agar Differential medium ‘MacConkey's agar MacConkey’s broth (see below) gelled with 15-2% agar Peptone 1%; Nutrient broth gelled with 15-2% agar to obtain the colonies (section3.3.1) ofa Enriched medium Blood agar Natren aga (ose medium) containing 5-10% fibrinated or citrated blood J % (By contrast at 37°C.) One widely used agar-based a general-purpose medium used for sowing) many types of bacteria; it can alsobe enriched and/or appropriate substances. 5-10% blood; Chocolate agar Serum agar lar medium) containing 5% (v/¥) is (causal agent of whooping cough), and also to detect Chocolate agar is made by heating blood agar to ‘ocolate brown in colour; it is more suitable than sg Neisseria gonorrhoene). i.e. one on which wed from one another by Conkey’s agar, . For example, 3) a mixture of homogenized tance medium ~ie,2 wedi given organism. Do ther agar nor ence, coagulatinyLOGY AND MEDICINE 2 con widely used for the storage of Mycobact om tuberculosis. 1 rn substances (eg. peptone, tgp water) whose ext et unknown, Sometimesitis necessary touse amedius, ; | / OME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY 8 SACTERIA IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOL as keh voding those ace amounts arequantiatvd f\ ise Cn ecrttoen cluding ie ute ae red fom known amount of Pu aaumast sean wn Ug inergnic sas, glucose, amino acid ete. in distilled oi es oe ea ol jonel requirement temperature toallow growth; the lope can medium is used P 5K tor at4_6°C until needed eg as asource of viability Support growth; in fact, growth may be disadvantageous since waste products formed may adversely affect the survival of the organisms. Ore Eich medium, Starts transport medium (Table 14.1) issuitable e.g. for arang bf anaerobic becteriaand for ‘delicate’ organisms such s Neisseria gonorthos separately by filtration (section 15.1.3) before being added to the rest of the “outlaved) medium. (7 M22 The preparation of media (26 sstenc racenague ina dehydrated, powdered form. £. the appropriate ‘before use (section 15.1); if we are simply not know what is happening in our logical procedures, instruments contamination by organisms that are ‘onment. Aseptic technigue involves the pre-use truments, vessels, media etc,, and avoidance of theit ct with noa-sterie objects suchas fingers, or the bench top ete ining sterile contents are kept closed except for the minimum e agar sets. Blood agar plates are made ed for acess. Before opening a vessel (eg. a sterile bottle, or one 5-10%, by volume (4 cantaininga pure culture), the rim of the screw-cap (or equivalent) is passed weugh the Bunsen flameto prevent any live contaminating organisms the vessel when the cap is removed; this procedure is called eg. whenever an inoculum is withdrawn from a e medium is being inoculated. Flaming ofthe bottle’s iniiscaricd out immediately before the vesselis closed, Flaming is generally natased when working with Petri dishes, and is never used when the contents of a vessel are likely to catch fice. He risk of contamination in the laboratory may be further reduced by ating bench topsete table disinfectant, and by filtering the air to remove cells and spores of bacteria and fungi etc. Sometimes bacteriological (=slerile cabinet). In a class UI cabinet, sterile red) air constantly flows down onto the work surface, and air passes to exterior after further filtration (Fig. 14.2). Work is conducted via an open the front ofthe cabinet. A class IIT cabinet is a gas-tight cabinet in ia ate dispensed to contai For most agor-based media (e.g, nutrient agar) the powdered medium s mixed with water and steamed to dissolve the whole is then | sterilized in an autoclave (sect about 45°C, a tempera plate, some 15-20 ml ofthe molten agar medium is poured into ast ‘Topreparea nutrient agar slope o 's allowed to set in a sterile b angle to the 1.1) whichis steamed bu slucose or other he ‘medium the sugar solution is seriapicks up only the minute volume e's surface. be used for picking up small quantities growth from a bacterial colony — e straight wire, into contact, adheres to the wire will be dor solid inocula carried by ther a liquid or a solid Fig. 142 (2) A class Il safety cabinet, and (b) the s) dunng use; filtered air the A loop: piece of platinum nickelstee) re end snd Reldinametalhandleof about ire: themetalhandlecarsesasealght pice of wie ‘K Pasteur pipette: an open-ended glass tube, the narrow _end of which has an internal diameter Freout | min; the wider end is plugged with ‘ation wool, before sterilization, and a rubber bulb (tat) is fitted immedi ough after atthe top ofthe cabinet (Courtesy of Astec ErvironmentalSystems, —~ fy Weston-super-Mare, Avon, UK) PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY 33BACTERIA BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE: SOME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY jop and straight wire must always be flamed immediately after jot contaminate the bench or environment. may occur when flaming a loop or jue of an inoculum; for th a special bunsen burner fit flaming may be carried out in a si Larger volumes of liquid may be graduated pipettes; from a mechanical de’ acteriology are usually plugged with cotton wool (Fig. 14.3), before being sterilized, in order to avoid contamination from the bulb or from the mechanical pipetting device during use. Pipettes are usually sterilized (a ‘batches) inside metal canisters or in thick paper envelopes; when a pipetteis removed irom the container, only the plugged end should be held so as to avoid contaminating the rest of the pipette. Pasteur pipettes are commonly used once only and then discarded into of suitable disinfectant (Graduated pipettes which have been contaminated with bacteria are immersed in a disinfectant until they are safe to handle, when they can be washed, — sterilized and reused. V% 143. METHODS OF INOCULATION canying the inoculum is move: zegionofthe plat, fll dipped into the liquid medium, ‘e medium as shownat? Streakings3 4 ition can also be carried out w' fed and cooled between each streaking. eon which largenumbers nduent growth, as atl, 2 and 3; ‘om te vewer during nay be inoculated ina variety. particular methods be ‘medium, the inoculum (atthe tip of the wire) is thus distributed along the ,lengthof the stab. This procedure is used e.g. for inoculating deep, microaerobic ‘or anaerobic parts of a medium. spread plteis made by spreading a small volume of liquid inoculum (eg. + 005-0.1ml overthe surface of asolid medium by means ofasterile L-shaped glass rod (a spreader’). A flood plate is made by flooding the surface of asolid medium witha liquid ‘inoculum and withdrawing excess inoculum with a sterile Pasteur pipette. © Ifthe inoculum in a flood plate, or a spread plate, contains enough cells, incubation will give rise to a lawn plate: a plate in which the surface of the ‘ll-separated colonies is known to contain a larg : thinned out sucha way tha of the plate - , fourth or fifth streakings (Fig. 14.4); well-separated cell gives rise to an individual colony. on, a solid medium ~ eg. the butt of a slope (Fig. 14. inoculated with a straight wire by plug rialBACTERIA IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEDICO: ~ SOME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY 38 yen inthe ja. Since, canbe inserted upside-down condensation this case, there is no vacuum, the plat. visually, with that of a particular tube, and the concentration of the sample is id-side down) soasto avoid the probleme then read from a table supplied with the tubes. vbic jars cor a redox indicator which indi e la contain a ich indicates the state ee jars the indicator is placed in a small through the wall of the pare 2h iMdicator-soaked pad is usually visity Most methods of estimating the viable cell count involve the inoculation of a Some anaerobes can be solid medium with the sample (or diluted sample). After incubation, the Robertson's cooked meal mesa ae thout ax anaerobic jar) in media sucha number of cells in the inoculum can be estimated from the number of colonies (1%), sodium chloride (0576 need beet heart beef extract (1%), peptan | Which develop on oF within the medium. Tt is always assumed that each thioglycollate) the medium, stertneed beeen ABEM, C6. L-cysteine colony has arisen from a single cel; the numberof cells which actually give uni bottles which afc nn Zed by autoclaving, is stored in serew-exy tie to colonies depends at least partly on the type of medium used and on the conditions ater insctlanes, ce ets equilibrated under oxygen conditions of incubation ‘Anaerobic cabinets allow came one Closate- Inthe spread plate (or surface plate) method, an inoculum of about 0.05-0.1 ml s rae is spread over the surface of a sterile plate, as described earlier; the plate is 's/eultures to be handled, oxygen-free conditions with control led incubated un concenteation, items inside the seo Bem berature, humidity and C, Ae! ection 142.2), incubated, and the viable cell count is estimated from cabinet can be manipil 482° Viable cell count gestight gloves red ee lated by means q (i) the number of colonies, (i) the volume of ineculum used, and (iii) the BREMEN gloves fixed into the front panel ddegrce (if any) to which the sample had been diluted, Ifa sample is suspected Of Containing many cells ~eg, 10 cells/ml ~itcan be diluted in 10-fold steps, M48 COUNTING BACTERIA and um from each dilution spread onto separate plate; at least one a countable number of colonies. Tn the pour plate method, the (liquid) inoculum is mixed with a molten in a sample is called the total i) agae-based medium (atabout45°C) whichis then poured into Petri dish and iable cell count. Counts in liquit_tllowed to set; on incubation, colonies develop within (as well as on) the cells per millilitre (or per 100 mj, -Diedium, and the viable count is calculated as in the spread plate method. Yet another method for viable count is Miles and Misra’s method (Fig. 14.6). 1481 Tot sou: ‘Asample likely to contain small numbers of bacteria (eg, water from aclean Fone sive may be passed thcough asterle membrane fterof pore size about 0.2 {fhe total cell count in a liquid sample (e.g. a broth culture) can be estimate! ##m-which retains ells on the uppersurface; a volume of, say, 100ml ormore by direct counting in a counting chamber (Fig. 145). tay be filtered. The membrane is then placed (cel-side uppermost) onto an Another method ~ the direct epifluorescent filter technique (DEFT) ~is usel:, absorbent pad saturated with a suitable medium; on incubation, nutrients renweeunting organisms in milk. Essentially, the mille is passed throughs dfs through the membrane, and colonies develop fom those cells capable Magetane filer, and the cells retained on the filter are stained with «of growih under such conditions. The viable cell count can then be estimated Muorescent ye; ultraviolet radiation is then beamed onto the filter, and the’. {70m (i) the number of colonies on the membrane, and (ti) the volume of dar background gah thougha microscope) asbright particles againste, smote tered e ‘ound. (For DEFT, the milk is pre-treated to disrupt fa 5 'Suleh would otherwise Slack the flee) snipt it globule sample with that of each oe mated By comp: ‘The total number of (living and dead) cel count; the number of living cells is the vi samples are usually given as the number of 4483 Counting cells in (or on) solids Sometimes we need to count the bacteria ina sample of fod or fabric ee. In Srfhr to-do this, the particles of food etc. must be broken up and/or the “bacteria must be separated from the sample; ideally, clumps of bacteria ould also be broken up. The sample and a diluent (uch a5 Ringers ‘Tution) can be sealed int a sterile plastic bag (@stmcher which i then tbjecte to mechanical agitation; inthis way atleatsome ofthe bas e brought into suspension in the diluent.SOME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY an P BACTERIA IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE nooml]== fore contains 1254000000 ca cle and averaged ination (because itwastoo concentrated), by the dilution factor for examples i ented tbe multiplied by 10. bed above isthe Thoma chamber; in a Heller chanber the distance between centel plateau and coverslip ie OO oe ee STAINING is often used to detect, categorize or identify bacteria, or to observe ic bacterial components; in most cases the cells are killed and ‘fixed’ before being stained, ‘Dyes etc are usually applied to a thin film of cells on a glass microscope le. Cells from a pure culture may be examined as follows. A loopful of lsplaced on a cleanslide, and (using the loop) a speck of growth from the water to form a suspension of the suspension is spread over an area of one or two square es and allowed to dry — forming a smear. The smear is then fixed by 'git quickly through a bunsen flame twice; itis then ready for staining subsequent examination under the microscope. smear may also be made directly from the sediment of centrifuged urine, us from an abscess. t i Iment, seen from Fig 445 A typical counting chamber (haemocytometer). The instrument, see onesie a a) cons of Secale las lock in wich te conta de. The cent precisely 0.1 mm below the level ofthe shoulders on eithe ‘The Gram stain background to this stain is given in section 2.29. One of many versions of procedure is as follows.from () thenumberof colonies “wsea throughoutifthe drops ace taken frst frome se aig done by drawing into the pips nv say, 20 drops, then each drop i ‘Aheat-fxed smear (see above) is ed briefly under running tution of odine and potassium mis then attempted by t stained for Lminute with crys! (about 1-3 seconds); t vesnaaitiobe Gest Toad ep sre Ln any bac ie a arvum-typenegative according £0 whether heir cell walls are of the Gram-positive or Gram-negative tYP& respectively (section 22.9). 4491.1. Gram staining living cells ‘the Gram reaction of Hiving cells has eet determined by differential Be Gam, ace VE satight bac lar Probes Ine, Bugene, Oregon, USA) wses WY, fluorescent dyes, one of which (hexdiu age, Oegor posivecls(vhih rest AMEE) (Gram-negative cells fuoresce green jyg2 The Zichl-Neelsen stain (acid-fast stain) ‘ac fst’ bacteria (AFB) differ from all other bacteria in that once they are Ae wit Rot, concentrated carbolfuchsin they ‘cannot be decolorized by nea acid OF and ethanol; such bacteria include e. be volfuchsin, and the slide is heated until th sae potbol,Theslide i kept hot for about min leftto cool, and t sn rnning water. Decolorization is attempted PY passing the slide {toough several changes ofacid-alcohol (eg; "3% /v concentrated hydrochloric 25d. 90% ethane i easing ater the smear is counterstained s rastng stan (such'as malachite green), washed 252 and di ‘fei fast cells stain red, others green. aa aga and ane 3493 Capsule stain gules may be demonstrated e.g; by negative ‘Theeells are emulsified with aloopful scunsldeand are See overlaid with a cover-sliprunder the oil-immersion sag ey’ (=) objective lens of the microssoPE Me ‘capsule appears as a ight zone between a cell and its dark ‘background. 4494 Endospore stain ‘ee section 16.114. blotted dry and 5 > a secope (magrification | 1495 pistinguishing live from dead cells by staining bacteria do not give a clear oF ct ering postive, sometimes negatively: these sand dead bacteria canbe distinguished s& bbyasimpleonestepstaining Tesnique (BaLight™, Moleculae Probes Tne, Eugene, Oregon, USA). The wets are treated with a mixture of WO iuorescent dyes: SYTO 9 and{14.10 MICROSCOPY BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE =; SOME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY ~~ gacreRia IN a“ se —S=—S aperture diaphragm L7_Oilimmersion objective lens: the reason for using oil. In the diagram, th 1) specimen lies between slide and covergass, and rays from one nett shown travelling towards the objective lens ‘When immersion oil refractive index (Rl) approx, and cover glass tighthhand side of diagram), says of ight las (lee Nand side of dings —— righthand side of the di idea is reflected back int the pes fement cpator (NA) oa harec ofl geen where n is the refractive index ofthe material between lens and cover-glass, and Oi} tin Biepodsetigeateicyemerbelasintc agen ohciagess, efter nde tea fomenystenfoncee meron by eee ar fogs et up ae ens te secnen oes ae a ta eas wed tts NA Eereriten pc pine atin fed ep soul i with this lave isan ins dapheapes of the substage condenser unt, Becsuce fer = Whatis the oil for? A powerful objective lens has a very short focal len; aadlghtrom the specimen mustenterthelensatawide angle thsi pescee ony pace between lens andspecimen i filed witha atv «pull reactive index Fig. 1.75 The maximum useful magnification obtainable rom a given objective lens 100 times its numerical aperture (NA) Fig. 1427) propidium iodide. Under the fluorescence microscope, SYTO 9 fluores green when bound to DNA in living cells; propidium iodide, which generally excluded from living cells, fluoresces red when bound to DNA ia dead cells. Living cells fluoresce green, dead cells red. [Methods forassessing the viability of microorganisms have been discusse by Lloyd & Hayes (1995) FEMSML 133 1-7,] 14.101 Kébler illumination For the best image, the specimen must be illuminated evenly, regardless of any unevenness in the source of light. K6hler illumination, which is optimal, ‘usesalamp fitted with a condensing lens and an adjustable diapheagm (=field t determines the diameter of the illuminating beam; when an image of the lamp's filament s formed in the lower focal plane of oil-immersion objectives, a drop of immersion oil ills the space between | the microscope's substage condenser, and rays from eack point of this image Jens and the top of the cover-glass (or, as is often the case, between lens andj’ pass through the condenser to emerge as parallel rays which illuminate the © specimen and enter the objective lens (Fig. 148). smear) gE In bacteriology there is often a need to use high magnification (e. and for this tie microscope must have an oil-immersion objec about 100x) and a suitable eyepiece (about 10x). When usingan tie, lo ‘olory, Si ins by ’sy and Molecular Biol ,, Singleton & Sa! EE SISSSY Of the publisher, john Wiley, Ciches O y BACTERIA IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOL ogy AND M ED) optical! oxis ‘onnular operture specimen condenser objective phase plote image plane Fig, 149 Phase-contrast microscopy: simplified diagrammatic scheme to show te rinciple. 1 PiWithina transparent or translucent specimen, the incident light has illuminated; region which causes diffraction; the first-order waves (dashed line) are retardes a about one-quarter of a wavelength (1/42). If these first-order waves and non-difiracted (zero-order) waves interact in a normal (bright-feld) microscope, te resultant wave would have an amplitude similar to that of the background waves 9 that the feature would not be clearly distinguished; the resultant and background waves would differ slightly in phase, but this cannot be detected by the eye. In a phase-contrast microscope the condenser has an-annular-(ting-shaped aperture in its front focal plane so that a holloz cone of light can be focused (as asa bright ring) onto a phase plate located in the back focal plane of the objective lens ( diagram), The phase plate is a glass disc on which has been deposited a ring o areeal (e4g, magnesium fluoride) of such thickness that it retards by 1/4i the light that passes through it. 3 In the absence of a specimen all the light passes through the phase ring. When @pecimen (e.g. an unstained cell) is examined, the zero-order and background wave! (Solid lines) pass through the ring but the first-order waves (dashed lines) past] through the phase plate via regions outside the ring; thus, by retarding the 2ero-odet and background waves by 1/47, the phase ting brings all the waves into the same phase, In the image plane, interaction between zero-order and first-order waves gives ne toa visible image because the resultant wave has an amplitude greater than thatoli var round | fie. se image forming wave is brighter than the a ) ive’ or ‘bright’ phase-contrast microscopy; the oppo s (mage darker than background) isseen kn ‘positive’ or ‘dark’ phase-contrast microscopy) Qkimage of greater clarity is obtained when the condenser contains a green filter 5 | Purpose; the telescope is focused on the P™ e 5 Oa i ntrin, Position of the small bright ri be made €8, PY ieroscope). "8 SF8WS on the condense” (@epending oa tke pavtielat model Diagram fr 2nd eiton, 199 'Y of crobin burySOME PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY 317 - 410.2 Phase-contrast microscopy sId) microscopy can reveal fine detail when different parts Ordinary (bright fie orb different amounts of light or (perhaps due to staining) ofthe specimen abs - Spsord different colours. Unstained cells can sometimes be seen — perhaps well enough to be counted ~ but with little detail. Phase-contrast microscopy can reveal fine detail e.g. in transparent/ translucent, unstained living cells by altering the phase difference between acted and non-diffracted light from the specimen (Fig. 14.9). 14103 Literature on microscopy Particularly helpful booklets on microscopy (containing both theoretical and ‘practical information) have been produced by the major manufacturers of = “inieroscopes. These include Microscopy from the Very Beginning, by Friedrich A X Méllring (Carl Zeiss, Germany), and (a more comprehensive treatment) The Microscope and its Applications, by Hans Determann and Friedrich ~ Lepusch (Leitz Wetzlar, Germany). f Le maces Sc havent inOy Ses. yr yf BACTERIA IN BIOLO. ‘gable 11 Bukaryotic and prokaryotic cell Fanaryotic cells The chromosomes are enclosed within a slike, double-layered ‘nuclear membrane Chromosome structure is complex; the DNA is usually associated with proteins called histones Call division involves mitosis or meiosis The cell wall, when present, includes structural compounds such as cellulose or chitin, but never peptidoglycan Mitochondria are generally present; chloroplasts occur in photosynthetic cells Cells contain ribosomes of two types: a larger type in the cytoplasm and a smaller type in mitchondria and chloroplasts Flagella, when present, have a complex NOLOGY AnD on : MEDICINE me major differences Prokaryotic cells There is no nuclear membrane.” chromosomes are i in dire the cytoplasm ect contact with Chromosome structure is relatively simple Mitosis and meiosis are not involved The cell wall, when present, usually contains peptidoglycan (though a peptidoglycan-like compound occurs in Some members of the Archaea) but never cellulose or chitin structural components Mitochondria and chloroplasts are never present Cells contain ribosomes of only one size Flagella, when present, have a relatively International Congress on Extremophiles [see: FEMSMR (1996) 18 89-288). Tre Archaea also includes all the known methane-producing organisms. pects of archaeal biology are mentioned in various parts of the book ~ inainly in order to give some idea A i i i of th isms differ from the ‘trae bacteria’. e way in which these organisms di 1.2 WHY STUDY BACTERIA? . Bacteria cause some major meearal the"prevention and 1 of 's depend largely on the efforts Beers veterinary and e. disease-causing) bacteria are ortas ugh they = are, the patho; acteria as enic bacteria are_dnly a small 4 Most Bacteria do litle orno harm, and. sshich have Sorolutionized the treatment ofdiseee r Sot es eyes Tor Diblogica washing powdeis Some are ee es BONIS a 2 used qs ‘microbialTHE BACTERIA: AN INTRODUCTION Prokaryotes l | aacteria Archaea The larger group The smaller group No species is known to Includes all the medically important, prokaryotes es live High, proportion live in Low proportion of speci in extreme environments extreme environments be medically important No species is photosynthetic species can carry out (but see section 5.2.2) Some photosynthesis All methane-forming species No species forms methane are in this group teria and Archaea: some general features ‘Members of the (section 2.2.8.2), cell wall in their cell membrane (section 16.2.2.2). .1 The domains Bac! 14.1) and nucleic acids Fig. ‘Anhaea differ from bacteria eB. (ection 2.2.9.3), flagella (section 22. insect pests. Bacteria are even insecticides’ — protecting cro} ase et ke biodegradable plastics (‘Biopol’ ~section 13.7) and to leach out (biomining — section 13.2). “used to make biodegradable piss" metals from certain low-grade ot refractory ores Perhaps surprisingly, acleria-contzibuie alot to the food indore (Chapter 12). We agli thing of bacteria as = mulsance where f9°e conchrned, catising ‘spoilage’ and food poisoning’, but certain types of fotiwin ard actually employed in the production of food. For example, in the manufacture of butter, cheese and_yoghurt, certain bacteria are used to convert ‘milk'sugar’ (lactose) to lactic Acid; the bacteria also form compounds ih give these ‘products their ‘characteristic flavours. Xanthan gum, formed E a Ee ae of bacteria, is used as a gellin; agent and thickener in the Tooa dustry. Vinegaris produced from alcohol (ethanol) by bacterial action, ZEGTbrteis 210 play a part ne a ce era coffee. ee ee activites can be understood by studying the chemical Reece lism) of bacterial cells (Chapters 5 and 6). Chapters 12 and at the activities of some ‘useful’ bacteri Bacteria (and their com S ae aa eco ;ponents) also play central roles in biotechnology - of recombinant DN icine, industry and agriculture. For example, one use INA_technology is the production of agents_such_as streptokinase aS lot Teast, wets Be for the treatment of thrombosis) (section 8.5.10). ‘ave essential roles in the natural cycles of matter ps from certain (Chapter 10), fe on whicl which, ultimately, all life depends. In the soil, bacteria affect fertility and str ol ‘ucture— ny ese! acti icultural potental—sothata better understanding Ns is willbe vt Se ee ange ENE OF and and crops; in the a S brief summa survival of our ever-expanding population I Aref Sent vb Should be. clear thatthe more ‘eer about Bacle Soe BS En oy 38 Ve svete Ab HO Usa hel chy hese