Microbes in Human Welfare

1. Microorganisms or Microbes
➢ Microbes are organisms which cannot be seen by naked eyes.
➢ Occurrence: These can be found everywhere, i.e., in soil, water, air and inside the bodies of
living organisms. They can be found in thermal vents, deep in soil, under snow as well as in
acidic environment.
➢ Diversity: Microbes are of various varieties—protozoa, bacteria, fungi, plant viruses, viroids
and prions.

2. Microbes in Household Products

(i) Curd
• Curd is formed by adding a small amount of curd to milk, which acts as a starter or
inoculum.
• Lactobacillus/lactic acid bacteria (LAB) present in starter, multiply at suitable
temperature and convert milk into curd.
• Acids released by LAB during the growth, coagulates and partially digest milk
protein, casein.
• Benefits of LAB: (a) Increases vitamin B12 amount thus increasing nutrient quality of
milk. (b) Checks disease-causing microbes in stomach.

(ii) Dough

• Dough is formed by fermentation by bacteria.

• Bread is made by fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae or commonly called
baker’s yeast.
• CO2 released during the process of fermentation gives the puffy appearance to
dough.
• It is used to make foods like idly, dosa, bread, etc.

(iii) Toddy

• It is a traditional drink of Southern India.

• It is made by fermentation of sap from palm trees by bacteria.

(iv) Cheese

• Cheese is formed by partial degradation of milk by different microorganisms.

• Swiss cheese is formed by the bacterium Propionibacterium sharmanii. Its
characteristic feature is formation of large holes due to production of large amount
of CO2.
• Roquefort cheese is formed by ripening with the fungi Penicillium roqueforti for a
particular flavour.

3. Microbes in Industrial Products

➢ Large-scale production of various compounds in industries is done in very large vessels called
fermenters.
 (i) Fermented beverages
• Beverages are formed by fermenting malted cereals and fruit juices with
Saccharomyces cerevisiae or brewer’s yeast to produce ethanol.
• Formation of different types of alcoholic drinks depends on raw material and
type of processing.
• Wine and beer are produced without distillation.
• Whisky, brandy and rum are formed by distillation.
(ii) Antibiotics
• Antibiotics are chemical substances produced by some microorganisms
which can kill or retard the growth of other disease-causing microorganisms.
• Penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming, was the first antibiotic to be
discovered.
• Discovery of penicillin: While working on Staphylococcus bacteria, Fleming
observed the growth of mould around which the bacteria did not grow. It
was found to be a chemical, penicillin, produced by Penicillium notatum.
• The function of penicillin as an antibiotic was established by Ernest Chain
and Howard Florey. It was used to treat American soldiers wounded in World
War II. Fleming, Chain and Florey were awarded Nobel prize in 1945 for their
discovery.
• Diseases cured by antibiotics include plague, whooping cough (kali khansi),
diphtheria (gal ghotu) and leprosy (kusht rog).
• Organic acids and alcohol produced by microbial metabolic actions

S.NO. ORGANIC ACID MICROBE TYPE OF MICROBE

1. Citric acid Aspergillus niger Fungi
2. Acetic acid (Vinegar) Acetobacter aceti Bacteria
3. Butyric acid Clostridium butylicum Bacteria
4. Lactic acid Lactobacillus sps Bacteria
5. Ethanol Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast (fungi)

• Some important enzymes commercially produced

S.NO. ENZYME USES

1. Lipase
2. Pectinase and protease
3. Streptokinase (produced by Streptococcus
and modified by genetic engineering)
4. Invertase produced by yeast
(a) Used in detergent formulations. (b) Helps
in removing oily stains from laundry.
Used for clarifying bottled juices.
Used as ‘clot-buster’ for removing clots from
blood vessels of patients who have
undergone myocardial infarction.
To invert sugar for ice creams and
confectioneries.
 • Some important bioactive molecules

S.NO. MOLECULE SOURCE ORGANISM USE

1. Cyclosporin A Trichoderma Used as immunosuppressive agent in organ
polysporum (fungus) transplant patients.
2. Statin Monascus purpureus Used as blood-cholesterol lowering agent. It
(fungus) competitively inhibits enzymes for cholesterol
synthesis

4. Microbes in Sewage Treatment

➢ Sewage is the municipal waste water, containing large quantities of human excreta.
➢ Need for sewage treatment: Sewage contains large amounts of organic matter and
pathogenic microbes. Before discharging into natural bodies, sewage is made less polluting.
➢ Sewage is treated in sewage treatment plants (STPs).
➢ Ganga Action Plan and Yamuna Action Plan have been initiated by Ministry of Environment
and Forests, under which large number of STPs will be built to treat sewage before their
discharge in rivers to reduce their pollution.
➢ Sewage treatment is carried out in two stages:
(i) Primary treatment or physical treatment
• It is the physical removal of large and small particles from sewage.
• First, the floating debris is removed by sequential filtration by passing
through wire mesh screens.
• Then, the grit (soil and small pebbles) are removed by sedimentation in
settling tanks. The sediment is called primary sludge and the supernatant is
the effluent.
• The effluent is taken for secondary treatment.
(ii) Secondary treatment or biological treatment
• Primary effluent is passed into large aeration tanks with constant mechanical
agitation and air supply.
• Useful aerobic microbes grow rapidly and form flocs.
• Flocs are masses of bacteria associated with fungal filaments to form mesh-
like structures.
• The growing microbes consume organic matter and thus reduce the
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
• When BOD of sewage has reduced, the effluent is passed into settling tank.
• Here, the bacterial flocs settle and the sediment is called activated sludge.
• A small part of the sludge is used as an inoculum in the aeration tank and
the remaining part is passed into large tanks called anaerobic sludge
digesters.
• In the digesters, heterotrophic microbes anaerobically digest bacteria and
fungi in sludge producing mixture of gases such as methane, hydrogen
sulphide (H2S) and CO2, which form the biogas.
• Effluent is now released into rivers and streams.
➢ Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
• BOD refers to the amount of oxygen consumed if all the organic matter in one litre of
water is oxidised by bacteria.
 • BOD measures the amount of organic matter in water by measuring the rate of
oxygen uptake by microbes, thus it is measure of organic matter present in water.
• Higher BOD indicates higher polluting potential.

5. Microbes in Production of Biogas

➢ Biogas is a mixture of inflammable gases (methane, CO2, etc) produced by microbial activity
that can be used as fuel (mainly methane, CH4)
➢ Methanogens, particularly Methanobacterium, anaerobically breaks down cellulosic material
to produce CO2 and H2 in (i) Anaerobic sludge in sewage treatment plants. (ii) Rumen (a part
of stomach) of cattle, thus providing nutrition to cattle.
➢ Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(KVIC) developed the technology of biogas in India. Mechanism of Biogas or Gobar Gas
Production
➢ The raw material for biogas production is excreta (dung) of cattle called Gobar which is rich
in these bacteria.
➢ The biogas plant has a concrete tank (10–15 feet deep) in which bio-wastes and slurry of
dung is collected.
➢ The tank has a floating cover which rises on production of gas in the tank.
➢ Methanobacterium in the dung act on the bio-wastes to produce biogas.
➢ The gas produced is supplied to nearby houses by an outlet.
➢ Through another outlet, the spent slurry is removed to be used as fertiliser.
➢ Biogas is used as fuel for cooking and lighting.

6. Microbes as Biocontrol Agents

➢ Biocontrol is defined as controlling plant diseases and pests using biological methods.
➢ Earlier, chemicals like insecticides and pesticides were used for biocontrol.
➢ Disadvantages of chemical agents:
(i) Chemicals are toxic and harmful to human beings and animals.
(ii) Chemicals pollute the environment and plants.
(iii) Weedicides used to remove weeds also pollute the soil.
➢ Organic farmers use a holistic approach for following reasons:
(i) Keeping pests at manageable levels by a complex system of checks and balances,
within the ecosystem, instead of their complete eradication.
 (ii) Complete eradication of pests is undesirable, as without them the beneficial
predatory and parasitic insects which depend on them as food or act as host will not
be survive. This will disturb the balance of the ecosystem.
(iii) Biocontrol agents reduce dependency on toxic chemicals and fertilizers.
➢ Following are some of the approaches for biological farming:
(i) Familiarity with various life-forms inhabiting the field.
(ii) Gain knowledge about the life cycles, patterns of feeding and habitat of predators
and pests.
➢ Some Examples of Biocontrol
(a) Ladybirds and Dragonflies are used to get rid of aphids and mosquitoes respectively.
(b) The bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is used to control butterfly caterpillars.
• Dried spores of Bt are mixed with water and sprayed on plants such as brassicas and
fruit trees.
• Insect larvae, after eating these are killed by the toxin released in their gut.
• B. thuringiensis toxin genes have been introduced into plants to provide resistance to
pests. For example, Bt cotton.
(c) Trichoderma sps., free-living fungi, are present in root ecosystems where they act against
several plant pathogens.
(d) Baculoviruses are pathogens that attack insects and other arthropods.
• Most of these biocontrol agents belong to the genus Nucleopolyhedrovirus. These
are species specific, narrow spectrum insecticides.
• They do not harm plants, mammals, birds, fish and other non-target insects.
• Baculoviruses are helpful in integrated pest management (IPM) programme, in which
beneficial insects are conserved and there is no negative impact on plant mammals,
birds, fish or nontarget insects.

7. Microbes as Biofertilizers
➢ Biofertilizers are the microorganisms which enrich the nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.)
quality of the soil.
➢ Bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria are the three main sources of biofertilizers.
(i) Bacteria as biofertilizers
• Rhizobium is a symbiotic bacterium that lives in the root nodules of legumes
and fixes atmospheric nitrogen into organic compounds.
• Azospirillum and Azotobacter are free-living bacteria which absorb free
nitrogen from soil, air and convert it into salts of nitrogen and enrich soil
nutrients.
(ii) Fungi as biofertilizers
• Fungi form symbiotic association with the roots of higher plants called
mycorrhiza, e.g., Glomus.
• The fungal hyphae absorb phosphorus from soil and passes it to the plant.
• Mycorrhiza shows the following benefits to plant:
(a) resistance to root-borne pathogens.
(b) tolerance to salinity and drought.
(c) overall increase in plant growth and development.
(iii) Cyanobacteria as biofertilizers
• They fix atmospheric nitrogen and increase the organic matter of the soil
through their photosynthetic activity, e.g., Nostoc, Anabaena, Oscillatoria,
etc.
• Blue-green algae increase the soil fertility by adding organic matter to the
soil.
• Cyanobacteria are important biofertilizers in paddy fields. Advantages of
biofertilizers
(a) Increase fertility of soil.
(b) Reduce dependency on chemical fertilizers.