INTRODUCTION
The tiny organisms can not be seen by naked eye, or require the use of microscopes for their visualization are called microbes. These are studied under the branch of biology known as microbiology. Microbiology mainly involves the study of virus, fungi, parasites and bacteria. It also includes the study of immune system.
Microbes are present in all parts of biosphere i.e soil, hotsprings, ocean floor, atmosphere and deep inside Earth’s crust. They are the first form of life on Earth. Their fossils date back more than three and a half billion years to a time when the Earth was covered with oceans. They have a fast rate of evolution. They reproduce rapidly and are highly versatile organisms.
The first person to observe microbes was Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. He established that there were form of life which were not visible to the naked eye. Along with leeuwenhoek, Spallanzani and Pasteur ended the long held believe that life spontaneously appeared from non-living substance during the process of spoilage. Later in 1876, Roberto Koch proved that diseased were caused by micro organisms.
FEATURES
Microbes play a very important role in industries. Following are some important features of microbes which make them industrially important:
• They produce rapidly. Billions of microble cells can reproduce in single day. For example, under optimal conditions of growth E.coli double itself in 15-20 minutes.
• The medium require for their growth is cheap and easily available throughout year.
• They are very versatile and have great biodiversity. They can reproduce and live under extreme conditions of temperature, pH, pressure, salt etc.
• Industrially important microbes’s genotype if fully known, which is helpful to unde...
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The purpose of this study is to identify an unknown bacterium from a mixed culture, by conducting different biochemical tests. Bacteria are an integral part of our ecosystem. They can be found anywhere and identifying them becomes crucial to understanding their characteristics and their effects on other living things, especially humans. Biochemical testing helps us identify the microorganism present with great accuracy. The tests used in this experiment are rudimentary but are fundamental starting points for tests used in medical labs and helps students attain a better understanding of how tests are conducted in a real lab setting. The first step in this process is to use gram-staining technique to narrow down the unknown bacteria into one of the two big domains; gram-negative and gram-positive. Once the gram type is identified, biochemical tests are conducted to narrow down the specific bacterial species. These biochemical tests are process of elimination that relies on the bacteria’s ability to breakdown certain kinds of food sources, their respiratory abilities and other biochemical conditions found in nature.
Eastfield College Microbiology Laboratory Manual, 1st edition, Oliver, T. D. (Book Must Be Purchased New from Eastfield Bookstore and Cannot Be Sold Back to Bookstore at the End of the Semester), Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2013, Dubuque, IA. ISBN 9781465223784.
The bacterium, Serratia marcescens, was first discovered by Bartholomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy in 1819. The bacte...
The earth was more than six hundred million years old when the first signs of life started to show. The planet had cooled down from its molten state enough to support life. Scientists believe that the water was the reason that the earth formed its first life. The earliest living organisms were microscopic bacteria. There is fossil evidence of them from as early as 3.4 billion years ago. The first mulitcelled organisms have fossil evidence that dates back to about six hundred million years ago. The main forms of life consisted of sponges, cnidarians, and annelids.
Slack, John M. and I. S. Snyder. Bacteria and Human Disease. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., 1978.
Results from Gram staining procedures were provided a week later; hence, a dichotomous (a flowchart that is used to identify bacteria based on its taxonomic classification) was constructed based on a total of 10 possible unknown bacterium. The bacteria were then separated based on its Gram reaction; leading to two subcategories, including Gram positive and Gram negative. Both subcategories were then divided into two separate categories based on bacteria morphology, including rod and cocci shaped. A series of metabolic test were then selected strategically based on metabolic results provided by Dr. McLaughlin (See attached chart for possible results). The metabolic test for Gram positive rod
Coli. Each culture was grown in an M9 medium. One culture utilized glucose as a carbon source, while the other utilized succinate as a carbon source. Two other treatments of E. Coli were also tested, one without succinate and one without glucose. These two treatments were added as a baseline to compare how much succinate and how much glucose actually helped the E. coli grow. The two treatments were covered with parafilm and for the purposes of this experiment, will be called blanks. These cultures remained within their assigned group all day to measure the growth of E. Coli. The following process was repeated by all groups throughout the day. A cuvette was labeled with the sample that was being tested. The writing was at the top of the cuvette to prevent light from being disturbed and affecting results. 3 mL of the tested sample were placed in a flask using a sterilized 1 mL pipet. The spectrophotometer was then rezeroed with the corresponding blank inside. This was so that only growth would be measured. After recording measurements the flasks were returned to the incubator and the pipets were disposed of in a red biohazard bag. The contents of the cuvette were poured into 50% bleach to kill any E. coli. The cuvette was rinsed with distilled water. This process was repeated every 30 minutes over the course of eight and a half hours. Measurements at 12:00, 12:30, and 15:30 were missed due
Prokaryotes have been around for at least 3.5 billion years, considering that the earth is over 4.5 billion years old. They are the earliest known organisms to ever inhabit the earth. Still small and insignificant they may seem, they have been able to endure and evolve on their own for over 2 billion years. They have produced a substantial impact on all life as we know on earth, and they have been able to go on to survive and adapt to an ever evolving land.
However, even though many biofilms are harmful, there are many helpful biofilms too. One of which is the biofilm that is used in sewage and is very effective at treating environmental wastes. People rely on these biofilms to remove contaminants from the water. Another example of a beneficial biofilm is one that can be used to produce a greatly diverse amount of biochemicals that are then purified and utilized for public good, including medicines, food additives, or chemical additives for cleaning products. These are two examples of helpful biofilms.
Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment in which they grow. The effects
The most commonly used bacterium strains for probiotics are Gram-positive Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei. and numerous Bifidobacterium species, B. longum and B. bifidum. There many are other strains of bacteria that have been described as probiotic but have failed to meet standards in clinical trials, this is due to their low resistance to low pH levels and bile salts in the gastrointestinal tract (Hekmat, 2006).
There are several types of treatment methods present but biological treatment methods have gained much traction in the recent years due to their low operation costs, comparatively benign effects on the environment and their ease of handling and maintenance. Biological wastewater treatment methods can be subcategorized into dispersed growth systems and attached growth systems. Biofilms fall under the latter category (Sehar & Naz, 2016)
Leboffe, M. J., & Pierce, B. E. (2010). Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application, Third Edition 3rd Edition (3rd Ed.). Morton Publishing
As stated by Prescott, Harley and Klein (1990) microbiology is the study of organisms that are usually too small to be seen with the naked eye.
The concept of microbiology emerged in the late 1600s when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first observed bacteria and other microorganisms using a single lens microscope. The microscope manufactured and used by Leeuwenhoek served as a catalyst for the field of microbiology, exposing a whole world of microorganisms. With the utilization of tools like microscopes and methods like ink staining, scientist have been able to step into a seemingly invisible world and note the contribution of microorganisms to human life. These tools and methods have been essential to the discovery that DNA was the macromolecule charged with the transformational ability of genetic information in bacterial cells