MICROBES IN HUMAN WELFARE II

MICROBES IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS

Production on an industrial scale-- growing microbes in very large vessels -- fermenters

Beverages, antibiotics, enzymes.

Fermented beverages

• Microbes are used for the production of beverages like wine, beer, whiskey, brandy or rum.
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• Malted cereals and fruit juices -- S.cerevisiae fermentation-- ethanol.

• Wine and beer are produced without distillation.
• Whisky, brandy, vodka and rum are produced by distillation of the fermented broth.

Antibiotics

• Antibiotics are the chemical substances which are produced by some microbes and can kill or stop the growth the growth of other microbes.
• Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin obtained from Penicillium notatum which was the first antibiotic to be discovered.

• Alexander Fleming while working on Staphylococci bacteria observed a mould growing in one of his unwashed culture plates around which Staphylococci could not grow and he found out that it was due to a chemical produced by Penicillium notatum.

• Antibiotics are used against the deadly diseases like plague, whooping cough, leprosy, malaria etc.

Nowdays, antibiotics are also produced by various chemical reaction and genetic engineering.

Chemicals, enzymes and other bioactive molecules

• Microbes are used for the production of organic acids, alcohols and enzymes.

Examples-

1. Aspergillus niger (a fungus) is the producer of citric acid.
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Acetobacter aceti (a bacterium)produces acetic acid.

Clostridium butylicum (a bacterium) is the producer of butyric acid.

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2. Lactobacillus (a bacterium) is the producer of lactic acid.

Enzymes produced by the microbes are-

1. Lipases- used in detergent formulations
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4. Pectinases and proteases- used in making bottled fruit juices clearer.

• Streptokinase produced by the bacterium Streptococcus is used as a ‘clot buster’ for removing clots from the blood vessels of patients who have undergone myocardial infraction leading to heart attack.

Bioactive molecules produced by microbes are-

1. Cyclosporin A- immunosuppressive agent
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3. produced by -- fungus Trichoderma polysporum.

Uses- 1. In organ transplantation- to prevent graft vs host reaction and graft rejection

2. In auto immune disease, eg rheumatoid arthritis

3. Allegies and inflammation

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2. Statins- produced by --yeast Monascus purpureus
3. used as blood-cholesterol lowering agents which acts by competitively inhibiting the enzyme responsible for synthesis of cholesterol.
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