home Fairy tales Industrial use of microorganisms. Bacteria - a general characteristic

Industrial use of microorganisms. Bacteria - a general characteristic

The world around us amazes with the variety of species of its inhabitants. According to the last census of this "population" of the Earth, 6.6 million species live on land, and another 2.2 million - plow the ocean depths. Each of the species is a link in a single chain of the biosystem of our planet. Of these, the smallest living organisms are bacteria. What has humanity managed to learn about these tiny creatures?

What are bacteria and where do they live?

Bacteria - these are single-celled organisms of microscopic size, one of the varieties of microbes.

Their prevalence on Earth is truly amazing. They live in the ice of the Arctic and on the ocean floor, in open space, in hot springs - geysers and in the saltiest bodies of water.

The total weight of these "charming crumbs" that have occupied the human body reaches 2 kg! This is despite the fact that their sizes rarely exceed 0.5 microns. A huge number of bacteria inhabit the body of animals, performing various functions there.

A living creature and bacteria in its body affect the health and well-being of each other. With the extinction of some species of animals, the bacteria inherent only to them die.

Looking at them appearance, it only remains to be amazed at the ingenuity of nature. These "charms" can have rod-shaped, spherical, spiral and other shapes. Wherein most of them are colorless, only rare species are colored green and purple. Moreover, over billions of years, they change only internally, and their appearance remains unchanged.

Discoverer of bacteria

The first researcher of the microworld was a Dutch naturalist Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek. His name became famous thanks to the occupation to which he devoted all his free time. He was fond of manufacturing and achieved amazing success in this business. It is to him that the honor of inventing the first microscope belongs. In fact, it was a tiny lens with a diameter of a pea, which gave a magnification of 200-300 times. It was possible to use it only by pressing it to the eye.

In 1683, he discovered and later described "living animals" seen with a lens in a drop of rainwater. Over the next 50 years, he was engaged in the study of various microorganisms, describing more than 200 of their species. He sent his observations to England, where gray-haired scientists in powdered wigs just shook their heads, amazed at the discoveries of this unknown self-taught. It was thanks to Levenguk's talent and perseverance that new science - microbiology.

Overview of bacteria

Over the past centuries, microbiologists have learned a lot about the world of these tiny creatures. It turned out that exactly our planet owes bacteria to the emergence of multicellular life forms. They play the main role in maintaining the circulation of substances on Earth. Generations of people replace each other, plants die off, household waste and obsolete shells of various creatures accumulate - all this is utilized and decomposes with the help of bacteria in the process of decay. And the resulting chemical compounds are returned to the environment.

How does humanity and the bacterial world coexist? Let's make a reservation that there are “good and bad” bacteria. "Bad" bacteria are responsible for the spread of a huge number of diseases, ranging from plague and cholera to common whooping cough and dysentery. They enter our body by airborne droplets, along with food, water and through the skin. These insidious fellow travelers can inhabit various organs, and while our immunity copes with them, they do not manifest themselves in any way. The speed of their reproduction is striking. Their number doubles every 20 minutes. It means that one single pathogenic microbe, generates a multi-million dollar army in 12 hours the same bacteria that attack the body.

There is another danger posed by bacteria. They cause poisoning people consuming spoiled food - canned food, sausages, etc.

Defeat in a victorious war

The great breakthrough in the fight against disease-causing bacteria was discovery in 1928 of penicillin- the world's first antibiotic. This class of substances is capable of inhibiting the growth and reproduction of bacteria. The early successes with antibiotics were enormous. It was possible to cure diseases that were previously fatal. However, bacteria showed incredible adaptability and the ability to mutate in such a way that the available antibiotics were helpless in the fight against even the simplest infections. This the ability of bacteria to mutate, has become a real threat to human health and led to the emergence of incurable infections (caused by superbugs).

Bacteria as allies and friends of humanity

Now let's talk about the "good" bacteria. The evolution of animals and bacteria took place in parallel. The structure and functions of living organisms gradually became more complex. Bacteria also did not sleep. Animals, including humans, become their home. They settle in the mouth, skin, stomach and other organs.

Most of them are extremely useful because helps in the digestion of food, participates in the synthesis of certain vitamins and even protects us from their sick brothers. Improper nutrition, stress and indiscriminate intake of antibiotics can cause microflora disturbances, which will certainly affect a person's well-being.

Interestingly, bacteria are sensitive to the taste preferences of people.

In Americans, who traditionally consume high-calorie foods (fast foods, hamburgers), bacteria are able to digest foods that are high in fat. And in some Japanese people, gut bacteria are adapted to digest algae.

The role of bacteria in human economic activity

The use of bacteria began even before humanity knew about their existence. Since ancient times, people have been making wine, fermenting vegetables, knowing recipes for making kefir, yogurt and kumiss, and producing cottage cheese and cheeses.

Much later, it was found that all these processes involve tiny helpers of nature - bacteria.

As knowledge about them deepened, their application expanded. They were "trained" to deal with plant pests and enrich the soil with nitrogen, silage green forage and purify wastewater, in which they literally devour various organic residues.

Instead of an epilogue

So, man and microorganisms are interconnected parts of a single natural ecosystem. Between them, along with competition in the struggle for living space, there is mutually beneficial cooperation (symbiosis).

To defend ourselves as a species, we must protect our bodies from the invasion of pathogenic bacteria, and also be extremely careful about the use of antibiotics.

At the same time, microbiologists are working to expand the scope of bacteria. An example is the project to create light-sensitive bacteria and their use for the production of biological cellulose. Under the influence of light, production starts, and when it is turned off, production stops.

The organizers of the project are confident that organs created from this natural biological material will not experience rejection in the body. The proposed technique opens up amazing possibilities for the world in the creation of medical implants.

If this message is useful to you, it's good to see you.

Microorganisms and products of their vital activity are now widely used in industry, agriculture, medicine.

History of the use of microorganisms

As early as 1000 BC, the Romans, Phoenicians and people of other early civilizations extracted copper from mine waters or waters that percolated through ore bodies. In the XVII century. the Welsh in England (County of Wales) and in the 18th century. the Spaniards at the Rio Tinto mine used this "leaching" process to extract copper from the minerals it contained. These ancient miners did not even suspect that bacteria played an active role in such metal extraction processes. This process, known as bacterial leaching, is currently used extensively around the world to recover copper from low-grade ores that contain trace amounts of this and other valuable metals. Biological leaching is also used (albeit less widely) to release uranium. Numerous studies have been carried out on the nature of organisms participating in the processes of metal leaching, their biochemical properties and possibilities of application in this field. The results of these studies indicate, inter alia, that bacterial leaching can be widely used in the mining industry and, most likely, can fully meet the needs for energy-efficient, environmentally friendly technologies.

Somewhat less well known, but just as important is the use of microorganisms in the mining industry to recover metals from solutions. Some advanced technologies already include biological processes for the production of metals in a dissolved state or in the form solid particles“From washing water remaining from ore processing. The ability of microorganisms to accumulate metals has been known for a long time, and enthusiasts have long dreamed of using microbes to obtain valuable metals from seawater. The studies carried out have dispelled some hopes and largely determined the fields of application of microorganisms. Their participation in metal recovery remains a promising method for the cheap treatment of metal-contaminated industrial effluents, as well as for the economical recovery of valuable metals.

It has long been known about the ability of microorganisms to synthesize polymer compounds; in fact, most of the components of the cell are polymers. However, today less than 1% of the total amount of polymeric materials is produced by the microbiological industry; the remaining 99% is obtained from oil. So far, biotechnology has not had a decisive impact on polymer technology. Perhaps, in the future, using microorganisms, it will be possible to create new materials for special purposes.

One more important aspect of the use of microorganisms in chemical analysis should be noted - the concentration and isolation of trace elements from dilute solutions. Consuming and assimilating microelements in the process of vital activity, microorganisms can selectively accumulate some of them in their cells, while purifying nutrient solutions from impurities. For example, molds are used to selectively precipitate gold from chloride solutions.

Modern applications

Microbial biomass is used as livestock feed. The microbial biomass of some crops is used in the form of a variety of starter cultures that are used in the food industry. So the preparation of bread, beer, wines, alcohol, vinegar, fermented milk products, cheeses and many products. Another important area is the use of waste products of microorganisms. Waste products by the nature of these substances and by their importance for the producer can be divided into three groups.

1st group are large molecules with a molecular weight. This includes a variety of enzymes (lipases, etc.) and polysaccharides. Their use is extremely wide - from the food and textile industries to the oil industry.

2nd group- these are primary methanobolites, which include substances necessary for the growth and development of the cell itself: amino acids, organic acids, vitamins, and others.

Group 3- secondary methanobolites. These include: antibiotics, toxins, alkaloids, growth factors, etc. An important area of biotechnology is the use of microorganisms as biotechnical agents for the transformation or transformation of certain substances, purification of water, soil or air from pollutants. Microorganisms also play an important role in oil production. Traditionally, no more than 50% of oil is extracted from an oil reservoir. The waste products of bacteria, accumulating in the reservoir, contribute to the displacement of oil and its more complete release to the surface.

The huge role of microorganisms in creating the maintenance and preservation of soil fertility. They take part in the formation of soil humus - humus. They are used to increase the productivity of agricultural crops.

V last years Another fundamentally new direction of biotechnology began to develop - cell-free biotechnology.

The selection of microorganisms is based on the fact that microorganisms bring enormous benefits in industry, in agriculture, in the animal and plant world.

Other areas of application

In medicine

Traditional vaccine production methods are based on attenuated or killed pathogens. Currently, many new vaccines (for example, for the prevention of influenza, hepatitis B) are obtained by genetic engineering. Antiviral vaccines are obtained by introducing into the microbial cell the genes of viral proteins that are most immunogenic. During cultivation, such cells synthesize a large amount of viral proteins, which are subsequently included in the composition of vaccine preparations. Production of viral proteins in animal cell cultures based on recombinant DNA technology is more efficient.

In oil production:

In recent years, methods of increasing oil recovery with the use of microorganisms have been developed. Their perspective is associated, first of all, with ease of implementation, minimal capital intensity and environmental safety... In the 1940s, research began in many oil producing countries on the use of microorganisms to stimulate production wells and restore the injectivity of injection wells.

In food and chemical. industry:

The most famous industrial products of microbial synthesis include: acetone, alcohols (ethanol, butanol, isopropanol, glycerin), organic acids (citric, acetic, lactic, gluconic, itaconic, propionic), flavors and odor enhancing substances (monosodium glutamate). The demand for the latter is constantly increasing due to the trend towards the use of low-calorie and plant-based foods to add variety to the taste and smell of food. Plant aromatic substances can be produced by the expression of plant genes in microbial cells.

Bacteria are unicellular, nuclear-free microorganisms belonging to the class of prokaryotes. To date, there are more than 10 thousand studied species (it is assumed that there are about a million), many of them are pathogenic and can cause various diseases in humans, animals and plants.

For their reproduction, a sufficient amount of oxygen and optimal humidity are required. The size of bacteria varies from tenths of a micron to several microns, in shape they are divided into spherical (cocci), rod-shaped, filamentous (spirilla), in the form of curved rods (vibrios).

The first organisms that appeared billions of years ago

(Bacteria and microbes under a microscope)

Bacteria play a very important role on our planet, being an important participant in any biological cycle of substances, the basis for the existence of all life on Earth. Most of both organic and inorganic compounds under the influence of bacteria change significantly. Bacteria, which appeared on our planet more than 3.5 billion years ago, stood at the primary sources of the foundations of the planet's living shell and still actively process non-living and living organic matter and involve the results of the metabolic process in the biological cycle.

(The structure of the bacteria)

Saprophytic soil bacteria play a huge role in the soil-forming process, it is they who process the remains of plant and animal organisms and help in the formation of humus and humus, which increase its fertility. The most important role in the process of increasing soil fertility is played by nitrogen-fixing nodule symbiont bacteria "living" on the roots of leguminous plants, thanks to which the soil is enriched with valuable nitrogen compounds necessary for plant growth. They capture nitrogen from the air, bind it, and create compounds in a form that plants can use.

The importance of bacteria in the cycle of substances in nature

Bacteria have excellent sanitary qualities, they remove dirt in wastewater, break down organic matter, turning them into a harmless inorganic. Unique cyanobacteria, which originated in the pristine seas and oceans 2 billion years ago, were capable of the process of photosynthesis, they supplied molecular oxygen to the environment, and thus formed the Earth's atmosphere and created an ozone layer that protects our planet from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. Many minerals have been created over thousands of years by the action of air, temperature, water and bacteria on biomass.

Bacteria are the most abundant organisms on Earth, they define the upper and lower boundaries of the biosphere, penetrate everywhere and are very hardy. If there were no bacteria, dead animals and plants would not be processed further, but simply accumulated in huge numbers, without them, the biological circulation will become impossible, and substances will not be able to return to nature again.

Bacteria are an important link in trophic food chains; they act as decomposers, laying out the remains of dead animals and plants, thereby cleansing the Earth. Many bacteria play the role of symbionts in the body of mammals and help them break down fiber, which they cannot digest. The vital activity of bacteria is a source of vitamin K and B vitamins, which play an important role in the normal functioning of their organisms.

Good and bad bacteria

A large number of pathogenic bacteria can bring enormous harm to the health of humans, domestic animals and cultivated plants, namely, cause such infectious diseases as dysentery, tuberculosis, cholera, bronchitis, brucellosis and anthrax (animals), bacteriosis (plants).

There are bacteria that bring benefits to humans and their economic activities. People have learned to use bacteria in industrial production, making acetone, ethyl and butyl alcohol, acetic acid, enzymes, hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, protein and vitamin preparations. The cleaning ability of bacteria is used in water treatment plants, to treat wastewater and convert organic matter into harmless inorganic substances. Modern achievements of genetic engineers have made it possible to obtain drugs such as insulin, interferon from E. coli bacteria, fodder and food proteins from some bacteria. In agriculture, special bacterial fertilizers are used, and with the help of bacteria, farmers fight various weeds and harmful insects.

(Bacteria favorite food infusoria slippers)

Bacteria participate in the process of tanning leather, drying tobacco leaves, with their help they make silk, rubber, cocoa, coffee, soak hemp, flax, and leach metals. They are involved in the manufacture of drugs, such powerful antibiotics as tetracycline and streptomycin. Without lactic acid bacteria, which cause the fermentation process, the process of preparing such dairy products as yogurt, fermented baked milk, acidophilus, sour cream, butter, kefir, yogurt, and cottage cheese is impossible. Also, lactic acid bacteria are involved in the process of pickling cucumbers, pickling cabbage, and ensiling feed.

Xenobacteria are successfully used for cleaning soil and water in nature during oil and oil products spills.

Wastewater treatment plant

A person uses a large amount of water for his personal needs, solving the issue of wastewater treatment using septic tanks.

The efficiency of the treatment facilities is ensured by special bacteria used in septic tanks.

Microorganisms used in septic tanks decompose organic compounds of any origin; during wastewater treatment, they successfully destroy a specific odor.

In composition, the bacterial flora of the septic tank is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic cultures.

Anaerobic (anoxic) microorganisms carry out primary water purification, and aerobic bacteria purify and clarify the water.

When using microorganisms for a septic tank, there are certain rules for wastewater treatment:

it is necessary to maintain a certain level of microorganisms in the septic tank;
the presence of water is mandatory - without it, microorganisms will die;
do not use aggressive chemicals for cleaning - they will kill microorganisms.

Biotechnology process tools

The main tools of biotechnology for obtaining the most effective microorganisms are selection and genetic engineering.

Selection - directed selection of highly efficient individuals in a population due to natural mutation of microorganisms.

In nature, the process is quite long, but under the influence of mutagenic factors (hard radiation, nitrous acid, etc.) it can be significantly accelerated.

The advantages of selection are environmental friendliness, naturalness of the product.

duration of the process;
the inability to control the direction of the mutation is determined by the end result.

Genetic engineering methods in biotechnology

Genetically engineered interventions change the cells of microorganisms and yeast, turning them into efficient producers of any protein. This opens up wide possibilities of using genetically modified cells of microbes and yeasts to obtain a final organism with given characteristics.

The use of genetically mutated microbial and yeast cells by humans in everyday life raises reasonable concerns - there are many both supporters of genetically modified substances and their opponents.

However, the fact remains the lack of information on the effect of genetically modified bacteria and yeast cells on the human body and nature in general.

Genetically modified bacteria and energy

Geneticists are working on the issue alternative source energy. The main task is to create chemical raw materials, and then fuel as a product of bacterial metabolism.

One of the ways in which humans can obtain energy from bacteria is working with genetically modified cyanobacteria.

Biologists at the University of Tübingen have discovered microorganisms that have the properties of a battery and can both store energy and transfer it to other bacteria.

The energy generated by these bacteria can be used by humans for nanodevices.

In China, a device was built in which bacteria obtain hydrogen from acetates, while the device does not have an external source of energy, and the raw material is cheap production waste. In turn, hydrogen is the energy source for eco-cars.

Microbiologists at the University of South Carolina have discovered a bacterium that can generate energy by feeding on toxic wastes such as problematic PCBs and corrosive solvents.

Californian researchers have proposed a method for processing brown algae with modified E. coli, resulting in ethyl alcohol - an excellent source of energy.

Hydrogen, as a source of energy, was obtained by American scientists by the decomposition of glucose by anaerobic bacteria.

Pros and cons of GMO (genetically modified organism)

Human use in Everyday life genetically modified bacteria and yeast to obtain modified organisms has both positive and negative sides.

The advantages of genetically modified organisms include:

the production of any organs for transplantation that will not be rejected;
production of feedstock for biofuels;
production of pharmaceuticals;
creation of plants for technical purposes (production of fabrics, etc.).

Notable cons of genetically modified foods:

the cost of genetically modified vegetables and fruits is almost 30% higher than natural ones;
seeds and fruits of GM plants are not viable;
fields with GM crops require an increased amount of pesticides and herbicides;
cultivated GM plants are capable of producing hybrids with wild plants.

Human use of microorganisms in everyday life and in production can be limited only by the properties of the bacteria themselves. And the more scientists pay attention to bacilli, the more interesting and useful properties of microorganisms are discovered.

Bacteria generate energy, extract minerals, purify water and soil - recently discovered bacteria that eat even plastic bags (!) - catalyze production processes, are used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and in many other areas of human life.

Harmful and beneficial bacteria

Bacteria are microorganisms that form a huge invisible world around and within us. Because of the harmful effects they exert, they are infamous, while the beneficial effects they cause are rarely spoken of. This article provides a general description of some of the good and bad bacteria.

“During the first half of geological time, our ancestors were bacteria. Most of the creatures are still bacteria, and each of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria. ”- Richard Dawkins

Bacteria- the most ancient living organisms on Earth are omnipresent. The human body, the air we breathe, the surfaces we touch, the food we eat, the plants that surround us, our habitat, etc. - all this is inhabited by bacteria.

Roughly 99% of these bacteria are beneficial, while the rest have a bad reputation. In fact, some bacteria are very important for the proper development of other living organisms. They can exist either on their own or in symbiosis with animals and plants.

The list of harmful and beneficial bacteria below includes some of the best known beneficial and deadly bacteria.

Beneficial bacteria

Lactic acid bacteria / Dederlein sticks

Characteristic: gram-positive, rod-shaped.

Habitat: Varieties of lactic acid bacteria are present in milk and dairy products, fermented foods, and are also part of the microflora of the oral cavity, intestines and vagina. The most dominant species are L. acidophilus, L. reuteri, L. plantarum, etc.

Benefit: Lactic acid bacteria are known for their ability to use lactose and produce lactic acid as a waste product. This ability to ferment lactose makes lactic acid bacteria an important ingredient in the preparation of fermented foods. They are also an integral part of the pickling process, as lactic acid can serve as a preservative. Through what is called fermentation, yoghurt is obtained from milk. Certain strains are even used to make yoghurts on an industrial scale. In mammals, lactic acid bacteria help break down lactose during the digestion process. The resulting acidic environment prevents the growth of other bacteria in the tissues of the body. Therefore, lactic acid bacteria are an important component of probiotic preparations.

Bifidobacteria

Characteristic: gram-positive, branched, rod-shaped.

Habitat: Bifidobacteria are present in the human gastrointestinal tract.

Benefit: Like lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria also produce lactic acid. They also produce acetic acid. This acid inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria by controlling the pH level in the intestines. B. longum, a type of bifidobacterium, breaks down difficult-to-digest plant polymers. B. longum and B. infantis bacteria help prevent diarrhea, candidiasis and even fungal infections in infants and children. Due to these beneficial properties, they are also often included in probiotic preparations sold in pharmacies.

E. coli (E. coli)

Characteristic:

Habitat: E. coli is part of the normal microflora of the large and small intestines.

Benefit: E. coli helps in the breakdown of undigested monosaccharides, thus aiding digestion. This bacterium produces vitamin K and biotin, which are essential for various cellular processes.

Note: Certain strains of E. coli can cause serious toxic effects, diarrhea, anemia, and kidney failure.

Streptomycetes

Characteristic: gram-positive, filamentous.

Habitat: These bacteria are present in soil, water and decaying organic matter.

Benefit: Certain streptomycetes (Streptomyces spp.) Play an important role in the ecology of the soil, carrying out the decomposition of organic matter present in it. For this reason, they are being studied as a bioremediation agent. S. aureofaciens, S. rimosus, S. griseus, S. erythraeus and S. venezuelae are commercially important species that are used for the production of antibacterial and antifungal compounds.

Mycorrhiza / Nodule bacteria

Characteristic:

Habitat: Mycorrhiza are present in soil, existing in symbiosis with root nodules of leguminous plants.

Benefit: Bacteria Rhizobium etli, Bradyrhizobium spp., Azorhizobium spp. and many other varieties are useful for fixing atmospheric nitrogen, including ammonia. This process makes this substance available to plants. Plants do not have the ability to use atmospheric nitrogen and depend on bacteria that fix it in the soil.

Cyanobacteria

Characteristic: gram-negative, rod-shaped.

Habitat: Cyanobacteria are primarily aquatic bacteria, but they can also be found on bare rocks and in soil.

Benefit: Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are a group of bacteria that are very important to the environment. They fix nitrogen in an aqueous medium. Their ability to calcify and decalcify makes them important for maintaining balance in the coral reef ecosystem.

Harmful bacteria

Mycobacteria

Characteristic: are neither gram-positive nor gram-negative (due to their high lipid content), rod-shaped.

Diseases: Mycobacteria are pathogens that have a long doubling time. M. tuberculosis and M. leprae, the most dangerous of their species, are the causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy, respectively. M. ulcerans causes ulcerated and non-ulcerated skin nodules. M. bovis can cause tuberculosis in livestock.

Tetanus stick

Characteristic:

Habitat: Tetanus bacillus spores are found in the soil, on the skin, and in the digestive tract.

Diseases: Tetanus bacillus is the causative agent of tetanus. It enters the body through a wound, multiplies in it and releases toxins, in particular tetanospasmin (also known as an antispasmodic toxin) and tetanolysin. This leads to muscle cramps and respiratory failure.

Plague wand

Characteristic:

Habitat: The plague rod can survive only in the host's body, in particular in the body of rodents (fleas) and mammals.

Diseases: The plague rod causes bubonic plague and plague pneumonia. The skin infection caused by this bacterium takes on a bubonic form, characterized by malaise, fever, chills, and even seizures. A lung infection caused by the bubonic plague pathogen leads to plague pneumonia, which causes coughing, shortness of breath, and fever. According to the WHO, between 1000 and 3000 cases of plague occur in the world every year. The plague pathogen is recognized and studied as a potential biological weapon.

Helicobacter pylori

Characteristic: gram-negative, rod-shaped.

Habitat: Helicobacter pylori colonizes the mucous membrane of the human stomach.

Diseases: This bacterium is the main cause of gastritis and peptic ulcers. It produces cytotoxins and ammonia that damage the epithelium of the stomach, causing abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and bloating. Helicobacter pylori is present in half of the world's population, but most people remain asymptomatic, and only a few develop gastritis and ulcers.

Anthrax stick

Characteristic: gram-positive, rod-shaped.

Habitat: The anthrax bacillus is widespread in the soil.

Diseases: Infection with an anthrax bacillus results in a deadly disease called anthrax. Infection occurs as a result of inhalation of endospores of the anthrax bacillus. Anthrax mainly occurs in sheep, goats, cattle, etc. However, in rare cases, there is transmission of bacteria from livestock to humans. The most common symptoms of anthrax are ulceration, fever, headache, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, etc.

We are surrounded by bacteria, some of which are harmful, others are beneficial. And it depends only on us how effectively we coexist with these tiny living organisms. It is within our power to benefit from beneficial bacteria by avoiding unnecessary and unnecessary antibiotic use, and to stay away from harmful bacteria by taking appropriate preventive measures, such as good personal hygiene and routine check-ups.

Bacteria appeared about 3.5-3.9 billion years ago, they were the first living organisms on our planet. Over time, life developed and became more complicated - new, each time more complex forms of organisms appeared. Bacteria all this time did not stand aside, on the contrary, they were the most important component of the evolutionary process. They were the first to develop new forms of life support, such as respiration, fermentation, photosynthesis, catalysis ... and also found effective ways to coexist with almost every living creature. Man was not an exception either.

But bacteria are a whole domain of organisms with over 10,000 species. Each species is unique and went its own evolutionary path, as a result, developed its own unique forms of coexistence with other organisms. Some bacteria have gone to close mutually beneficial cooperation with humans, animals and other creatures - they can be called useful. Other species have learned to exist at the expense of others, using the energy and resources of donor organisms - they are considered to be harmful or pathogenic. Still others went even further and became practically self-sufficient, they receive everything they need for life from environment.

Inside humans, as well as inside other mammals, an unimaginably large number of bacteria live. There are 10 times more of them in our bodies than all the cells of the body put together. The absolute majority of them are useful, but the paradox is that their vital activity, their presence inside us is a normal state of affairs, they depend on us, we, in turn, on them, and at the same time we do not feel any signs of this cooperation. Another thing is harmful, for example, pathogenic bacteria, once inside us, their presence immediately becomes noticeable, and the consequences of their activity can become very serious.

Beneficial bacteria

The vast majority of them are creatures living in symbiotic or mutualistic relationships with donor organisms (inside of which they live). Typically, these bacteria take on some of the functions that the host's body is not capable of. An example is bacteria that live in the human digestive tract and process part of the food that the stomach itself is not able to handle.

Some types of beneficial bacteria:

Escherichia coli (lat.Escherichia coli)

It is an integral part of the intestinal flora of humans and most animals. Its benefits can hardly be overestimated: it breaks down indigestible monosaccharides, facilitating digestion; synthesizes vitamins of group K; prevents the development of pathogenic and pathogenic microorganisms in the intestines.

Closeup: colony of Escherichia coli bacteria

Lactic acid bacteria (Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, etc.)

Representatives of this order are present in milk, dairy and fermented products, and at the same time are part of the intestinal and oral microflora. They are able to ferment carbohydrates and in particular lactose and produce lactic acid, which is the main source of carbohydrates for humans. By maintaining a constant acidic environment, the growth of unfavorable bacteria is suppressed.

Bifidobacteria

The most significant effect of bifidobacteria is exerted on infants and mammals, accounting for up to 90% of their intestinal microflora. By means of the production of lactic and acetic acids, they completely prevent the development of putrefactive and pathogenic microbes in the child's body. In addition, bifidobacteria: facilitate the digestion of carbohydrates; provide protection of the intestinal barrier from the penetration of microbes and toxins into the internal environment of the body; synthesize various amino acids and proteins, vitamins of group K and B, useful acids; promote intestinal absorption of calcium, iron and vitamin D.

Harmful (pathogenic) bacteria

Some types of pathogenic bacteria:

Salmonella typhi

This bacterium is the causative agent of a very acute intestinal infection, typhoid fever. Salmonella typhi produces toxins that are dangerous exclusively to humans. When infected, a general intoxication of the body occurs, which leads to severe fever, a rash all over the body, in severe cases to damage to the lymphatic system and, as a result, to death. Every year 20 million cases of typhoid fever are recorded in the world, 1% of cases lead to death.

Colony of bacteria Salmonella typhi

Tetanus stick (Clostridium tetani)

This bacterium is one of the most persistent and at the same time the most dangerous in the world. Clostridium tetani produces an extremely toxic poison, the tetanus exotoxin, which causes almost complete damage to the nervous system. People with tetanus experience terrible torment: all the muscles of the body spontaneously strain to the limit, and powerful convulsions occur. The mortality rate is extremely high - on average, about 50% of those infected die. Fortunately, back in 1890, the tetanus vaccine was invented, it is made to newborns in all developed countries of the world. In underdeveloped countries, 60,000 people die from tetanus every year.

Mycobacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, etc.)

Mycobacteria are a family of bacteria, some of which are pathogenic. Various representatives of this family cause such dangerous diseases as tuberculosis, mycobacteriosis, leprosy (leprosy) - all of which are transmitted by airborne droplets. Mycobacteria cause more than 5 million deaths every year.

: useful and harmful? Types of bacteria that help the body, and which ones harm?

Consider all bacteria living in the body. And we'll tell you all about bacteria.

Researchers say there are about 10 thousand varieties of microbes on earth. However, there is an opinion that their variety reaches 1 million.

Due to their simplicity and unpretentiousness, they exist everywhere. Due to their small size, they penetrate anywhere, even in the smallest crack. The microbe is adapted to any habitat, they are everywhere, be it even a dry island, even a frost, even a heat of 70 degrees, they still will not lose their vitality.

Microbes enter the human body from the environment. And only when they find themselves in favorable conditions for them, they make themselves felt, either helping or causing from mild skin diseases to serious infectious diseases that lead to the death of the body. Bacteria have different names.

These microbes are the most ancient species of creatures living on our planet. They appeared about 3.5 billion years ago. They are so tiny that they can only be seen under a microscope.

Since these are the first representatives of life on earth, they are rather primitive. Over time, their structure has become more complex, although some have retained their primitive structure. A large number of microbes are transparent, but some of them have a red or greenish tint. Few acquire the color of their surroundings.

Microbes belong to prokaryotes, and therefore have their own separate kingdom - Bacteria. Let's take a look at which bacteria are harmless and harmful.

Lactobacillus (Lactobacillus plantarum)

Lactobacilli are your body's defenders against viruses. They live in the stomach since ancient times, performing very important and useful functions. Lactobacillus plantarum protect the digestive tract from useless microorganisms that can lodge in the stomach and worsen the condition.

Lactobacillus helps to get rid of heaviness and bloating in the abdomen, and fight allergies caused by various foods. Lactobacilli also help to remove harmful substances from the intestines. Cleans the entire body of toxins.

Bifidobacteria (Latin Bifidobacterium)

It is a microorganism that also lives in the abdomen. These are beneficial bacteria. Under unfavorable conditions for the existence of Bifidobacterium die. Bifidobacterium produce acids such as lactic, acetic, succinic and formic.

Bifidobacterium plays a leading role in the normalization of bowel function. Also, with a sufficient amount of their content, they strengthen the immune system and promote better absorption of nutrients.

They are very useful, as they perform a number of important functions, consider the list:

Replenish the body with vitamins K, B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, proteins and amino acids.
Protect against the appearance of harmful microorganisms.
Prevents harmful toxins from entering the intestinal wall.
Accelerate the digestion process. - Helps the absorption of Ca, Fe and vitamin D.

Today, there are many medicines containing bifidobacteria. But this does not mean that when they are used for medicinal purposes, there will be a beneficial effect on the body, since the usefulness of the drugs has not been proven.

Unfavorable microbe Corynebacterium minutissimum

Harmful types of microbes can appear in the most inappropriate places, where you would not expect to find them.

This species of Corynebacterium minutissimum is very fond of living and reproducing on phones and tablets. They cause rashes all over the body. There are a lot of anti-virus applications for tablets and phones, but they have not yet come up with a remedy for the harmful Corynebacterium minutissimum.

So you should reduce contact with phones and tablets so that you do not get allergic to Corynebacterium minutissimum. And remember, after washing your hands, you should not rub your palms together, as the number of bacteria decreases by 37%.

A genus of bacteria that includes more than 550 species. V favorable conditions streptomycetes create strings that look like mushroom mycelium. They live mainly in the soil.

In 1940, streptomycins were used in the production of drugs:

Physostigmine. Pain reliever is used in small doses to reduce eye pressure in glaucoma. V large quantities can become poison.
Tacrolimus Medicinal product of natural origin. It is used for the treatment and prevention of kidney, bone marrow, heart and liver transplants.
Allosamidine. A drug to prevent the formation of degradation of chitin. It is successfully used for killing mosquitoes, flies and so on.

But it should be noted that not all bacteria of this kind have a beneficial effect on the human body.

Helicobacter pylori belly protector

Microbes that exist in the abdomen. It exists and multiplies in the stomach lining. Helicobacter pylori, appear in the human body from an early age and live throughout life. Helps maintain a stable weight, controls hormones and is responsible for hunger.

Also, this insidious microbe can contribute to the development of ulcers and gastritis. Some scientists believe that Helicobacter pylori is beneficial, but despite a number existing theories, it has not yet been proven how useful it is. No wonder he can be called a belly protector.

Good bad bacteria Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli bacteria are also called Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli, which lives in the lower abdomen. They are settled in the human body at birth and live with him all his life. A large number of microbes of this type are harmless, but some of them can cause serious poisoning of the body.

Escherichia coli is a common factor in many infectious diseases associated with the abdomen. But she reminds of herself and gives discomfort when she is going to leave our body, in a more favorable environment for her. And so it is even useful for humans.

Escherichia coli saturates the body with vitamin K, which in turn monitors the health of the arteries. Also Escherichia coli can live for a very long time in water, soil and even in food, for example, in milk.

Harmful bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus)

Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent of purulent formations on the skin. Boils and pimples are often caused by Staphylococcus aureus, which lives on the skin of a large number of people. Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent of many infectious diseases.

Pimples are very unpleasant, but just imagine that getting through the skin inside the body of Staphylococcus aureus can get serious consequences, pneumonia or meningitis.

It is found on almost the entire body, but mainly exists in the nasal passages and axillary folds, but it can also appear in the larynx, perineum and abdomen.

Staphylococcus aureus has a golden hue, which is why Staphylococcus aureus got its name. It is one of the four most common causes of nosocomial infections after surgery.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pseudomonas aeruginosa)

This microbe can exist and multiply in water and soil. Loves warm water and swimming pool. It is one of the causative agents of purulent diseases. They got their name from the blue-green tint. Pseudomonas aeruginosa lives in warm water, gets under the skin and develops an infection, accompanied by itching, pain and redness in the affected area.

This microbe can infect various types of organs and causes a host of infectious diseases. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection affects the intestines, heart, urogenital organs. The microorganism is often a factor in the appearance of abscesses and phlegmon. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is very difficult to get rid of because it is resistant to antibiotics.

Microbes are the simplest living microorganisms that exist on Earth, which appeared many billions of years ago, are adapted to any environmental conditions. But you need to remember that bacteria are useful and harmful.

So, we have dealt with the types of microorganisms, using an example, we examined which beneficial bacteria help the body and which harmful ones that cause infectious diseases.

Remember that adherence to the rules of personal hygiene will be the best prevention against infection with harmful microorganisms.

Microbiological processes are widely used in various sectors of the national economy. Many processes are based on metabolic reactions that occur during the growth and reproduction of certain microorganisms.

With the help of microorganisms, feed proteins, enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, organic acids, etc. are produced.

The main groups of microorganisms used in the food industry are bacteria, yeasts and molds.

Bacteria. They are used as causative agents of lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, acetone-butyl fermentation.

Cultural lactic acid bacteria are used in the production of lactic acid, in bakery, and sometimes in alcohol production. They convert sugar to lactic acid according to the equation

C6H12O6 ® 2CH3 - CH - COOH + 75 kJ

The production of rye bread involves true (homofermentative) and untrue (heterofermentative) lactic acid bacteria. Homofermentative are involved only in acid formation, and heterofermentative, along with lactic acid, form volatile acids (mainly acetic acid), alcohol and carbon dioxide.

In the alcohol industry, lactic acid fermentation is used to acidify yeast wort. Wild lactic acid bacteria adversely affect the technological processes of fermentation plants, degrade the quality of finished products. The resulting lactic acid inhibits the vital activity of foreign microorganisms.

Butyric acid fermentation caused by butyric acid bacteria is used to produce butyric acid, the esters of which are used as aromatic substances.

Butyric acid bacteria convert sugar to butyric acid according to the equation

C6H12O6 ® CH3CH2CH2COOH + 2CO2 + H2 + Q

Acetic acid bacteria are used to obtain vinegar (acetic acid solution), because they are capable of oxidizing ethyl alcohol to acetic acid according to the equation

C2H5OH + O2 ® CH3COOH + H2O +487 kJ

Acetic acid fermentation is harmful for alcohol production, because leads to a decrease in alcohol yield, and in brewing it causes beer spoilage.

Yeast. They are used as fermentation agents in the production of alcohol and beer, in winemaking, in the production of bread kvass, in bakery.

For food production, yeast is important - saccharomycetes, which form spores, and imperfect yeast - non-saccharomycetes (yeast-like fungi), which do not form spores. The Saccharomycetes family is divided into several genera. Most important is the genus Saccharomyces. The genus is subdivided into species, and the individual varieties of the species are called races. Each industry uses a separate yeast race. Distinguish between pulverized and flaky yeast. In dusty cells, they are isolated from each other, while in flocculent cells they stick together to form flakes, and quickly settle.

Cultural yeast belongs to the S. cerevisiae family of saccharomycetes. The optimum temperature for yeast propagation is 25-30 ° C, and the minimum temperature is about 2-3 ° C. At 40 ° C, growth stops, the yeast dies, at low temperatures, reproduction stops.

Distinguish between top and bottom fermentation yeast.

Of cultural yeast, bottom-fermenting yeast includes most wine and brewer's yeast, and top-fermenting yeast - alcohol, baking and some brewer's yeast races.

As you know, in the process of alcoholic fermentation from glucose, two main products are formed - ethanol and carbon dioxide, as well as intermediate secondary products: glycerin, succinic, acetic and pyruvic acids, acetaldehyde, 2,3-butylene glycol, acetoin, ethers and fusel oils (isoamyl , isopropyl, butyl and other alcohols).

Fermentation of individual sugars occurs in a certain sequence, due to the rate of their diffusion into the yeast cell. Glucose and fructose are fermented most rapidly by yeast. Sucrose, as such, disappears (inverts) in the medium even at the beginning of fermentation under the action of the yeast enzyme b - fructofuranosidase, with the formation of glucose and fructose, which are easily used by the cell. When there is no glucose or fructose left in the medium, the yeast consumes maltose.

Yeast has the ability to ferment very high sugar concentrations - up to 60%, they also tolerate high alcohol concentrations - up to 14-16 vol. %.

In the presence of oxygen, alcoholic fermentation stops and the yeast receives energy due to oxygen respiration:

C6H12O6 + 6O2 ® 6CO2 + 6H2O + 2824 kJ

Since the process is more energetically rich than the fermentation process (118 kJ), yeast consumes sugar much more economically. The cessation of fermentation under the influence of atmospheric oxygen is called the Pasteur effect.

In alcohol production, the top yeast of the species S. cerevisiae is used, which have the highest fermentation energy, form the maximum alcohol and ferment mono- and disaccharides, as well as part of the dextrins.

In baker's yeast, fast-breeding races are valued, which have good lifting power and storage stability.

Brewing uses bottom-fermented yeast, adapted to a relatively low temperatures... They must be microbiologically pure, have the ability to flocculate, quickly settle to the bottom of the fermentation apparatus. Fermentation temperature 6-8 0С.

Winemaking appreciates yeast that multiplies rapidly, which has the property of inhibiting other types of yeast and microorganisms and giving the wine an appropriate bouquet. The yeast used in winemaking belongs to the species S. vini, vigorously fermenting glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose. In winemaking, almost all yeast production cultures are isolated from young wines in various localities.

Zygomycetes- molds, they play an important role as producers of enzymes. Mushrooms of the genus Aspergillus produce amylolytic, pectolytic and other enzymes that are used in the alcohol industry instead of malt for saccharification of starch, in brewing with partial replacement of malt with unmalted raw materials, etc.

In the production of citric acid, A. niger is the causative agent of citric acid fermentation, converting sugar into citric acid.

Microorganisms play a dual role in the food industry. On the one hand, these are cultured microorganisms, on the other, an infection gets into food production, i.e. foreign (wild) microorganisms. Wild microorganisms are widespread in nature (on berries, fruits, in the air, water, soil) and from the environment they enter production.

To maintain the correct sanitary and hygienic regime in food enterprises effective way destruction and suppression of the development of foreign microorganisms is disinfection.

The importance of bacteria in our lives. The discovery of penicillin and the development of medicine. The results of the use of antibiotics in flora and fauna. What are probiotics, the principle of their action on the body of humans and animals, plants, the benefits of use.

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

The use of microorganisms in medicine, agriculture; benefits of probiotics

Rodnikova Inna

INTRODUCTION

People played the role of biotechnologists for thousands of years: they baked bread, brewed beer, made cheese, other lactic acid products, using various microorganisms and not even knowing about their existence.

Actually, the term "biotechnology" itself appeared in our language not so long ago, instead of it the words "industrial microbiology", "technical biochemistry", etc. were used. Probably, the oldest biotechnological process was fermentation. This is supported by a description of the brewing process discovered in 1981.

during the excavation of Babylon on a tablet that dates back to about the 6th millennium BC. e. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Sumerians made up to two dozen types of beer. Winemaking, baking and the production of lactic acid products are no less ancient biotechnological processes.

From the foregoing, we see that for quite a long time the vital activity of a person is inextricably linked with living microorganisms. And if for so many years people have successfully, albeit unconsciously, “collaborated” with bacteria, it would be logical to ask the question - why, in fact, do you need to expand your knowledge in this area?

After all, everything seems to be fine, we know how to bake bread and brew beer, prepare wine and kefir, what else do we need? Why do we need Biotechnology? Some answers can be found in this abstract.

MEDICINE AND BACTERIA

Throughout the history of mankind (up to the beginning of the twentieth century), families had many children.

very often children did not live up to adulthood, they died from many diseases, even from pneumonia, which is easily treatable in our time, let alone such serious diseases as cholera, gangrene, plague. All these diseases are caused by pathogens and were considered incurable, but, finally, medical scientists realized that other bacteria could fight the "evil" bacteria, or extract from their enzymes.

For the first time, Alexander Fleming managed to notice this on the example of elementary mold.

It turned out that some types of bacteria get along well with mold, but streptococci and staphylococci did not develop in the presence of mold.

Previously numerous experiments with the reproduction of harmful bacteria have shown that some of them are capable of destroying others and do not allow their development in a common environment. This phenomenon was called "antibiosis" from the Greek "anti" - against and "bios" - life. Fleming was well aware of this as he worked to find an effective antimicrobial agent. He had no doubts that he had encountered the phenomenon of antibiosis on a cup with a mysterious mold. He began to carefully examine the mold.

After some time, he even managed to isolate an antimicrobial substance from the mold. Since the mold he was dealing with bore the specific Latin name Penicilium notatum, he called the resulting substance penicillin.

Thus, in 1929, in the laboratory of St. The well-known penicillin was born to Mary.

Preliminary tests of the substance on experimental animals showed that even when injected into the blood it does not harm, and at the same time, in weak solutions, it perfectly suppresses streptococci and staphylococci.

The role of microorganisms in food production technology

Fleming's assistant, Dr. Stuart Greddock, who fell ill with purulent inflammation of the so-called maxillary cavity, was the first person who decided to take a penicillin extract.

He was injected into the cavity with a small amount of mold extract, and after three hours it was possible to see that his state of health had improved significantly.

Thus, the era of antibiotics began, which saved millions of lives, both in peacetime and in times of war, when the wounded died not from the severity of injury, but from the infections associated with them. In the future, the development of new antibiotics, based on penicillin, methods of their production for widespread use were carried out.

BIOTECHNOLOGIES AND AGRICULTURE

The consequence of a breakthrough in medicine was a rapid demographic rise.

The population increased sharply, which means more food was required, and due to the deterioration of the environment due to nuclear tests, industrial development, depletion of the humus of the cultivated land, many diseases of plants and livestock appeared.

At first, people treated animals and plants with antibiotics and this brought its results.

Let's consider these results. Yes, if you process vegetables, fruits, herbs, etc. during the growing season with strong fungicides, this will help suppress the development of some pathogens (not all and not completely), but, firstly, this leads to the accumulation of poisons and toxins in the fruits, which means that the beneficial qualities of the fetus decrease, and secondly, harmful microbes quickly develop immunity to substances that poison them, and subsequent treatments should be carried out with more and more powerful antibiotics.

The same phenomenon is observed in the animal kingdom, and, unfortunately, in humans.

In addition, antibiotics in the body of warm-blooded people cause a number of negative consequences, such as dysbiosis, fetal deformities in pregnant women, etc.

How to be? Nature itself gives the answer to this question! And this answer is PROBIOTICS!

The leading institutes of biotechnology and genetic engineering have long been engaged in the development of new and selection of known microorganisms that have amazing vitality and the ability to "win" in the fight against other microbes.

These elite strains such as "bacillus subtilis" and "Licheniformis" are widely used to treat people, animals, plants, incredibly effective and completely safe.

How is this possible? And here's how: the body of humans and animals necessarily contains many essential bacteria. They are involved in the processes of digestion, the formation of enzymes and make up almost 70% of the human immune system. If for any reason (taking antibiotics, improper diet) a person's bacterial balance is disturbed, then he turns out to be unprotected from new harmful microbes and in 95% of cases he will get sick again.

The same applies to animals. And elite strains, getting into the body, begin to actively multiply and destroy the pathogenic flora, because already mentioned above, they have greater vitality. Thus, with the help of strains of elite microorganisms, it is possible to maintain a macro organism in health without antibiotics and in harmony with nature, since by themselves, being in the body, these strains bring only benefits and no harm.

They are better than antibiotics also because:

the response of the microworld to the introduction of superantibiotics into business practice is obvious and follows from the experimental material already at the disposal of scientists - the birth of a supermicrobe.

Microbes are amazingly perfect self-developing and self-learning biological machines capable of memorizing in genetic memory the mechanisms of protection they have created against the harmful effects of antibiotics and transmit information to descendants.

Bacteria are a kind of "bioreactor" in which enzymes, amino acids, vitamins and bacteriocins are produced, which, like antibiotics, neutralize pathogens.

However, at the same time, there is neither addiction to them, nor side effects typical when using chemical antibiotics. On the contrary, they are able to cleanse the intestinal walls, increase their permeability for the necessary nutrients, restore the biological balance of the intestinal microflora and stimulate the entire immune system

Scientists used the natural way of maintaining the health of a macro organism, namely, they isolated bacteria from the natural environment - saprophytes, which have the ability to suppress the growth and development of pathogenic microflora, including in the gastrointestinal tract of warm-blooded animals.

Millions of years of evolution of living things on the planet have created such wonderful and perfect mechanisms for suppressing pathogenic microflora that are not pathogenic that there is no reason to doubt the success of this approach.

Non-pathogenic microflora wins the competition in the indisputable majority of cases, and if it were not so, you and I would not be on our planet today.

Based on the above, scientists who produce fertilizers and fungicides for use in agriculture have also tried to move from a chemical to a biological point of view.

And the results were not slow to show themselves! It turned out that the very same bacillus subtilis successfully fight as many as seventy varieties of pathogenic representatives that cause diseases of horticultural crops such as bacterial cancer, fusarium wilting, root and root rot, etc., which were previously considered incurable plant diseases that could not handle ANY FUNGICIDE!

In addition, these bacteria have a clearly positive effect on the vegetation of the plant: the period of filling and ripening of fruits is reduced, the beneficial qualities of the fruits increase, the content of nitrates in them decreases, etc.

toxic substances, and most importantly - the need for mineral fertilizers is significantly reduced!

Preparations containing strains of elite bacteria are already taking first places at Russian and international exhibitions, they are winning medals for efficiency and environmental friendliness. Small and large agricultural producers have already begun to actively use them, and fungicides and antibiotics are gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Bio-Ban's products are Flora-S and Fitop-Flora-S, which offer dry peat-humic fertilizers containing concentrated humic acids (and saturated humus is the key to an excellent harvest) and bacillus subtilis bacteria strain for fight disease. Thanks to these preparations, it is possible to restore depleted land in a short time, increase the yield of the land, protect your harvest from diseases, and most importantly, it is possible to get excellent harvests in risky farming zones!

I believe that these arguments are enough to appreciate the benefits of probiotics and understand why scientists argue that the twentieth century is the century of antibiotics, and the twenty-first is the century of probiotics!

The main groups of microorganisms used in the food industry

It should be maximized when receiving drugs and chemicals. The requirements for sterility in the production of alcoholic beverages are less stringent.

Such fermentation processes are referred to as "protected", since the conditions that are created in the environment are such that only certain microorganisms can grow in them. For example, in beer production, the growth medium is simply boiled, not sterilized; the fermenter is also used clean, but not sterile.

Getting culture. Before starting the fermentation process, you need to get a clean, high-yielding culture. Pure cultures of microorganisms are stored in very small volumes and under conditions that ensure its viability and productivity; this is usually achieved by storage at a low temperature.

A fermenter can hold several hundred thousand liters of culture medium, and the process begins by introducing a culture (inoculum) into it, constituting 1-10% of the volume in which fermentation will take place. Thus, the original culture should be grown in stages (with replanting) until the level of microbial biomass is reached, sufficient for the microbiological process to proceed with the required productivity.

It is absolutely necessary all this time to maintain the purity of the culture, preventing it from contamination by extraneous microorganisms.

Maintaining aseptic conditions is possible only with careful microbiological and chemical-technological control.

Growth in an industrial fermenter (bioreactor). Industrial microorganisms must grow in the fermenter under conditions that are optimal for the formation of the desired product.

These conditions are strictly controlled to ensure the growth of microorganisms and the synthesis of the product. The design of the fermenter should allow regulation of the growth conditions - constant temperature, pH (acidity or alkalinity) and the concentration of oxygen dissolved in the medium.

A conventional fermenter is a closed cylindrical tank in which the medium and microorganisms are mechanically mixed.

Air, sometimes saturated with oxygen, is pumped through the medium. The temperature is controlled by water or steam passed through the tubes of the heat exchanger. This stirring fermenter is used when the enzymatic process requires a lot of oxygen. Some products, on the other hand, are formed in anoxic conditions, and in these cases fermenters of a different design are used. Thus, beer is brewed at very low dissolved oxygen concentrations, and the contents of the bioreactor are not aerated or agitated.

Some brewers still traditionally use open containers, but in most cases the process takes place in closed, non-aerated cylindrical containers that taper downward, which encourages yeast settling.

The production of vinegar is based on the oxidation of alcohol to acetic acid by bacteria.

Acetobacter... The fermentation process takes place in containers called acetators, with intensive aeration. Air and medium are sucked in by the rotating stirrer and fed to the walls of the fermenter.

Isolation and purification of products. At the end of the fermentation, microorganisms, unused nutrient components of the medium, various waste products of microorganisms and the product that they wanted to obtain on an industrial scale are present in the broth. Therefore, this product is purified from other components of the broth.

When producing alcoholic beverages (wine and beer), it is enough to simply separate the yeast by filtration and bring the filtrate to condition. However, individual chemical substances, obtained by fermentation, are extracted from a broth with a complex composition.

Although industrial microorganisms are specially selected for their genetic properties so that the yield of the desired product of their metabolism is maximized (in the biological sense), its concentration is still small compared to that achieved in production based on chemical synthesis.

Therefore, one has to resort to complex isolation methods - solvent extraction, chromatography, and ultrafiltration. Recycling and disposal of fermentation waste. Any industrial microbiological processes generate waste: broth (liquid left after extraction of the product); cells of microorganisms used; dirty water with which the installation was washed; water used for cooling; water containing trace amounts of organic solvents, acids and alkalis.

Liquid waste contains many organic compounds; if discharged into rivers, they will stimulate the intensive growth of natural microbial flora, which will lead to depletion of oxygen in river waters and create anaerobic conditions. Therefore, the waste is subjected to biological treatment before disposal in order to reduce the organic carbon content. Industrial microbiological processes can be divided into 5 main groups: 1) growing microbial biomass; 2) obtaining metabolic products of microorganisms; 3) obtaining enzymes of microbial origin; 4) obtaining recombinant products; 5) biotransformation of substances.

Microbial biomass. Microbial cells themselves can serve end product production process. On an industrial scale, two main types of microorganisms are obtained: yeast, necessary for baking, and single-celled microorganisms, used as a source of proteins that can be added to human and animal food.

Baker's yeast has been grown in large quantities since the early 20th century. and was used as a food product in Germany during the First World War.

However, the technology for the production of microbial biomass as a source of dietary proteins was only developed in the early 1960s. A number of European companies drew attention to the possibility of growing microbes on a substrate such as hydrocarbons to obtain the so-called.

protein of unicellular organisms (BOO). A technological triumph was the production of a product added to livestock feed and consisting of dried microbial biomass grown on methanol.

The process was carried out in a continuous mode in a fermenter with a working volume of 1.5 million liters.

However, due to the rise in prices for oil and its products, this project became economically unprofitable, giving way to the production of soybean and fish meal. By the end of the 1980s, the plants for the production of BWO were dismantled, which put an end to the turbulent, but short period of development of this branch of the microbiological industry. Another process turned out to be more promising - obtaining fungal biomass and fungal protein mycoprotein using carbohydrates as a substrate.

Metabolic products. After introducing the culture into the nutrient medium, a lag phase is observed when no visible growth of microorganisms occurs; this period can be seen as a time of adaptation. Then the growth rate gradually increases, reaching a constant value, maximum for the given conditions; this period of maximum growth is called the exponential, or logarithmic, phase.

Growth gradually slows down, and the so-called. stationary phase. Further, the number of viable cells decreases and growth stops.

Following the kinetics described above, it is possible to trace the formation of metabolites at different stages.

In the logarithmic phase, products are formed that are vital for the growth of microorganisms: amino acids, nucleotides, proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, etc. They are called primary metabolites.

Many primary metabolites are of significant value. So, glutamic acid (more precisely, its sodium salt) is included in many food products; lysine is used as a food additive; phenylalanine is a precursor to the sugar substitute aspartame.

Primary metabolites are synthesized by natural microorganisms in quantities necessary only to meet their needs. Therefore, the task of industrial microbiologists is to create mutant forms of microorganisms - super-producers of the corresponding substances.

Significant advances have been made in this area: for example, it was possible to obtain microorganisms that synthesize amino acids up to a concentration of 100 g / l (for comparison, wild-type organisms accumulate amino acids in quantities calculated in milligrams).

In the phase of growth retardation and in the stationary phase, some microorganisms synthesize substances that are not formed in the logarithmic phase and do not play an obvious role in metabolism. These substances are called secondary metabolites. They are synthesized not by all microorganisms, but mainly by filamentous bacteria, fungi and spore-forming bacteria. Thus, producers of primary and secondary metabolites belong to different taxonomic groups. If the question of the physiological role of secondary metabolites in producer cells was the subject of serious discussion, then their industrial production is of undoubted interest, since these metabolites are biologically active substances: some of them have antimicrobial activity, others are specific inhibitors of enzymes, and others are growth factors. , many have pharmacological activity.

The production of this kind of substances served as the basis for the creation of a number of branches of the microbiological industry. The first in this series was the production of penicillin; The microbiological method for producing penicillin was developed in the 1940s and laid the foundation for modern industrial biotechnology.

The pharmaceutical industry has developed highly sophisticated methods of screening (mass screening) microorganisms for their ability to produce valuable secondary metabolites.

Initially, the purpose of screening was to obtain new antibiotics, but it was soon discovered that microorganisms synthesize other pharmacologically active substances.

During the 1980s, the production of four very important secondary metabolites was established. They were: cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant used as a means of preventing the rejection of implanted organs; imipenem (one of the modifications of carbapenem) is a substance with the widest spectrum of antimicrobial action of all known antibiotics; lovastatin - a drug that lowers blood cholesterol levels; ivermectin is an anthelmintic agent used in medicine to treat onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and in veterinary medicine.

Enzymes of microbial origin. On an industrial scale, enzymes are obtained from plants, animals and microorganisms. The use of the latter has the advantage of allowing large quantities of enzymes to be produced using standard fermentation techniques.

In addition, it is incomparably easier to increase the productivity of microorganisms than in plants or animals, and the use of recombinant DNA technology makes it possible to synthesize animal enzymes in the cells of microorganisms.

Enzymes obtained in this way are used mainly in the food industry and related fields. The synthesis of enzymes in cells is genetically controlled, and therefore the existing industrial microorganisms-producers were obtained as a result of directed changes in the genetics of wild-type microorganisms.

Recombinant products. Recombinant DNA technology, better known as genetic engineering, allows the genes of higher organisms to be included in the genome of bacteria. As a result, bacteria acquire the ability to synthesize "foreign" (recombinant) products - compounds that previously could only be synthesized by higher organisms.

On this basis, many new biotechnological processes have been created for the production of human or animal proteins previously unavailable or used with great health risks.

The term "biotechnology" itself became widespread in the 1970s in connection with the development of methods for the production of recombinant products. However, this concept is much broader and includes any industrial method based on the use of living organisms and biological processes.

The first commercially available recombinant protein was human growth hormone. For the treatment of hemophilia, one of the proteins of the blood coagulation system is used, namely the factor

VIII. Before genetic engineering methods were developed to obtain this protein, it was isolated from human blood; the use of such a drug was associated with the risk of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

For a long time, diabetes mellitus has been successfully treated with animal insulin. However, scientists believed that the recombinant product would create fewer immunological problems if it could be obtained in its pure form, without admixtures of other peptides produced by the pancreas.

In addition, it was expected that the number of patients with diabetes would increase over time due to factors such as changes in diet, improvement medical care pregnant women with diabetes (and as a consequence - an increase in the frequency of genetic predisposition to diabetes), and, finally, the expected increase in the life expectancy of patients with diabetes.

The first recombinant insulin went on the market in 1982, and by the end of the 1980s it had practically replaced animal insulin.

Many other proteins are synthesized in the human body in very small quantities, and the only way to get them on a scale sufficient for clinical use is through recombinant DNA technology. These proteins include interferon and erythropoietin.

Erythropoietin, together with the myeloid colony-stimulating factor, regulates the formation of blood cells in humans. Erythropoietin is used to treat anemia associated with kidney failure and may be used as a platelet-promoting agent in cancer chemotherapy.

Biotransformation of substances. Microorganisms can be used to convert certain compounds into structurally similar but more valuable substances. Since microorganisms can show their catalytic action in relation to only some specific substances, the processes taking place with their participation are more specific than purely chemical ones. The most famous biotransformation process is the production of vinegar by converting ethanol to acetic acid.

But among the products formed during biotransformation, there are also such highly valuable compounds as steroid hormones, antibiotics, prostaglandins. see also GENETIC ENGINEERING. Industrial microbiology and advances in genetic engineering(special issue of Scientific American magazine).

M., 1984
Biotechnology. Principles and Applications... M., 1988

Manufacturing Human use of microorganisms.

Microorganisms are widely used in the food industry, household, microbiological industry for the production of amino acids, enzymes, organic acids, vitamins, etc.

The classic microbiological industries include winemaking, brewing, making bread, lactic acid products and food vinegar. For example, winemaking, brewing and the production of yeast dough͵ are impossible without the use of yeast, which is widespread in nature.

The history of industrial yeast production began in Holland, where in 1870 ᴦ. the first yeast factory was founded. The main product was pressed yeast with a moisture content of about 70%, which could only be stored for several weeks.

Long-term storage was impossible, since the cells of the pressed yeast remained alive, retained their activity, which led to their autolysis and death. Drying has become one of the methods of industrial preservation of yeast. In dry yeast at low humidity, the yeast cell is in anabiotic state and can be stored for a long time.

The first dry yeast appeared in 1945 ᴦ. In 1972 ᴦ. the second generation of dry yeast, the so-called instant yeast, appeared.

The use of microorganisms in the food industry

Since the mid-1990s, the third generation of dry yeast has emerged: baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which combine the advantages of instant yeast with a highly concentrated complex of specialized baking enzymes in one product.

This yeast allows not only to improve the quality of the bread, but also to actively resist the staling process.

Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are also used in the production of ethyl alcohol.

Winemaking uses many different races of yeast to create a unique brand of wine with unique qualities.

Lactic acid bacteria are involved in the preparation of foods such as sauerkraut, pickles, pickled olives, and many other pickled foods.

Lactic acid bacteria convert sugar into lactic acid, which protects food from putrefactive bacteria.

With the help of lactic acid bacteria, a large assortment of lactic acid products, cottage cheese, cheese is prepared.

Moreover, many microorganisms play a negative role in human life, being the causative agents of diseases in humans, animals and plants; they can cause food spoilage, destruction of various materials, etc.

To combat such microorganisms, antibiotics were discovered - penicillin, streptomycin, gramicidin, etc., which are products of the metabolism of fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes.

Microorganisms provide a person with the necessary enzymes.

So, amylase is used in food, textile and paper industries. Protease causes the degradation of proteins in various materials. In the East, protease from mushrooms has been used for the preparation of soy sauce several centuries ago.

Today it is used in production detergents... When preserving fruit juices, an enzyme such as pectinase is used.

Microorganisms are used for wastewater treatment, food processing waste. Anaerobic decomposition of waste organic matter produces biogas.

In recent years, new production facilities have appeared.

Carotenoids and steroids are obtained from mushrooms.

Bacteria synthesize many amino acids, nucleotides and other reagents for biochemical research.

Microbiology is a rapidly developing science, the achievements of which are largely associated with the development of physics, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, etc.

Knowledge of these sciences is required to successfully study microbiology.

This course focuses on food microbiology.

Many microorganisms live on the surface of the body, in the intestines of humans and animals, on plants, on food and on all objects around us. Microorganisms consume a wide variety of food, extremely easily adapt to changing living conditions: heat, cold, lack of moisture, etc.

n. Οʜᴎ reproduce very quickly. Without knowledge of microbiology, it is impossible to competently and effectively manage biotechnological processes, maintain high quality food at all stages of its production and prevent the consumption of foods containing causative agents of food diseases and poisoning.

It should be emphasized that microbiological studies of food products, not only from the point of view of technological features, but also, which is no less important, from the point of view of their sanitary and microbiological safety, are the most difficult object of sanitary microbiology.

This is due not only to the diversity and abundance of microflora in food, but also to the use of microorganisms in the production of many of them.

In this regard, in the microbiological analysis of the quality and safety of food, two groups of microorganisms should be distinguished:

- specific microflora;

- nonspecific microflora.

Specific- ϶ᴛᴏ cultural races of microorganisms that are used for the preparation of a particular product and are an obligatory link in the technology of its production.

This microflora is used in the technology of obtaining wine, beer, bread, and all fermented milk products.

Nonspecific- ϶ᴛᴏ microorganisms that enter food products from the environment, contaminating them.

Among this group of microorganisms, there are saprophytic, pathogenic and opportunistic pathogens, as well as microorganisms that cause spoilage of products.

The degree of pollution depends on many factors, which include the correct procurement of raw materials, their storage and processing, compliance with the technological and sanitary regimes for the production of products, their storage and transportation.

Industrial use of microorganisms. Bacteria - a general characteristic

What are bacteria and where do they live?

Discoverer of bacteria

Overview of bacteria

Defeat in a victorious war

Bacteria as allies and friends of humanity

The role of bacteria in human economic activity

Instead of an epilogue

The first organisms that appeared billions of years ago

The importance of bacteria in the cycle of substances in nature

Good and bad bacteria

Wastewater treatment plant

Biotechnology process tools

Genetic engineering methods in biotechnology

Genetically modified bacteria and energy

Pros and cons of GMO (genetically modified organism)

Harmful and beneficial bacteria

Beneficial bacteria

Some types of beneficial bacteria:

Escherichia coli (lat.Escherichia coli)

Lactic acid bacteria (Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, etc.)

Bifidobacteria

Harmful (pathogenic) bacteria

Some types of pathogenic bacteria:

Salmonella typhi

Tetanus stick (Clostridium tetani)

Mycobacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, etc.)

Lactobacillus (Lactobacillus plantarum)

Bifidobacteria (Latin Bifidobacterium)

Unfavorable microbe Corynebacterium minutissimum

Helicobacter pylori belly protector

Good bad bacteria Escherichia coli

Harmful bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus)

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pseudomonas aeruginosa)

The importance of bacteria in our lives. The discovery of penicillin and the development of medicine. The results of the use of antibiotics in flora and fauna. What are probiotics, the principle of their action on the body of humans and animals, plants, the benefits of use.

The role of microorganisms in food production technology

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