Microbiology

Microbiology in the Pursuit of Answers for a Better Life

Microbiology plays an important role in our lives in many ways and most of us are totally unaware of it. Microbiology is the study of micro-organisms. Micro-organisms, also referred to as microbes, are microscopic live entities that are most everywhere within and outside of our environment. Microbes play a vital role in our world.

There are so many with whom we share the planet, it is claimed that there are over 2 billion different species of microbe and six groups of microbes: protozoa, viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae and archaea. Microbes are good and bad. Some are helpful and others damaging. Microbiology has taken on the important task of investigating both for our benefit.

Antibiotics

One important role of microbiology has been following the route of pathogens through their course of infection. Through this process, microbiology has been able to understand how some microbes cause disease and they have identified ways of controlling infections and disease. One successful use of microbes has been the development of antibiotics. Antibiotics are made from fungi and bacteria in soil.

Antibiotics work by preventing bacterial cells from reproducing and keeping the numbers at bay and then letting the host system defend or kill the bacteria. Excessive and incorrect use of antibiotics causes their diminished effectiveness referred to as antibiotic resistance and the more general antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Antibiotic resistance is when the bacteria that cause infections can no longer be treated effectively. AMR is much wider and includes microbes from fungi, viruses including HIV and parasites such as malaria that can no longer be treated with the same drugs. The drugs have become less effective or ineffective.

Alternative Fuels

Biofuels such as ethanol have been produced by taking plants like sugar cane, corn kernels or sugar beets and once broken down to the sugar glucose are fermented into ethanol by using microbes. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is a microbe that ferments the glucose into ethanol, a biofuel. Unfortunately, it is an expensive process, and there is a preference not to divert foodstuff to other purposes.

Instead of using edible portions of the plant, microbiologists have been investigating creating ethanol from three parts of the plant’s cell wall. Cellulose ethanol, created from lignocellulose is made of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. The three are from the plant cell wall and are non-edible parts of plant waste.

The Origins of Life on Earth

Microbiologists and other scientists have been investigating the origins of life on our planet. The planet is said to be in the range of 4.5 billion years old. Early life has been identified in Australia, as old as 3.4 to 3.8 billion years old, in the form of cyanobacteria called stromatolites. Once again, microbiologists take center stage in investigating bacteria that existed 3.4 billion years ago and exists today.

Whether answering the question of how life started on this planet will help us progress remains to be seen. Meanwhile there are plenty of other areas where microbiology can pursue new avenues of research.