Assignment On scope of Microbiology

Introduction:

Microbiology is the specific - study of the microorganisms’

Microbiology is the specific branch of biology that essentially deals with the elaborated investigation of microscope organism termed as microbes that are composed of only one cell. These are typically either unicellular or multi cellular microscopic organisms that are distributed abundantly both in the living bodies of plants and animals and also in the air, water, soil, and marine kingdom.

One day also define microbiology as – ‘the study of living organisms of microscope size, that include essentially bacteria, fungi, algae, protojozoa and the infectious agents at the very borderline of life which are broadly known as viruses.

It is mainly concerned with a variety of vital and important aspects, such as: typical form, inherent structure reproduction, Physiological characteristic, metabolic pathways (viz., anabolism, and catabolism) and logical classification. Besides, it includes the study of their:

• Distribution in nature,
• Relationship to each other and to other living organisms,
• Specific effects on humans, plants, and animals, and
• Reactions to various physical and chemical agents.

Microbiology

Microbiology (from Greek μῑκρος, mīkros, "small"; βίος, bios, "life"; and -λογία, -logia) is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea. Viruses, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied. In short; microbiology refers to the study of life and organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Fig: An agar plate streaked with microorganisms

Microbiology is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in all aspects of microbiology, including the pharmacy, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, physiology, pathogenicity, biodiversity, evolution and genetics of microorganisms and viruses of microorganisms. It also covers plant–microbe interactions, and environmental and theoretical microbiology.

Pharmacy and Microbiology:

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication. The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications, and it also includes more modern services related to patient care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information. Pharmacists, therefore, are the experts on drug therapy and are the primary health professionals who optimize medication use to provide patients with positive health outcomes. Pharmacists are highly-trained and skilled healthcare professionals who perform various roles to ensure optimal health outcomes for their patients.

The field of microbiology is also vast. For this reason the field has been funder divided into various types. If we illustrate the names and the subjected area it will be easy to find out the relationship between pharmacy and microbiology.

Rapid advances in the biomedical sciences are radically redefining the types of educational experiences that evidence-based clinicians need. Biomedical science is becoming more indispensable, and the role of genetics is key to our understanding of physiology and pathogenesis, and is vital in determining the interplay of genes in therapeutic outcomes.

In microbiology we can study organism in great detail and observe their life process while they are actively metabolizing, growing reproducing, and aging, and dying. By modifying their environment we can alter metabolic activities, regulate growth, fid even change some details of their genetic pattern.

Scope of Microbiology:

Microbiology is not an industry in itself, but an important technology that will have a large impact on many different industrial sectors in the future. The advantageous fields of microbiology are essentially the ones enumerated below:

Antibiotics-penicillin:

Fungi secrete antibiotics to kill all the things around it so that it has all of the nutrients for itself. The fermentation process of penicillin is showed below.

Fig: Biosynthesis of penicillin

Fig: Chemical structure of penicillin G

Production of human hormones:

Bacteria have been inserted with human genes that control the production of insulin, Human growth hormone and interferon. The bacteria can produce these in mass quantities that human cannot. Some of these are discussed here.

Human insulin

Amongst the earliest uses of biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing is the use of recombinant DNA technology to modify Escherichia coli bacteria to produce human insulin, which was performed at Genentech in 1978. Prior to the development of this technique, insulin was extracted from the pancreas glands of cattle, pigs, and other farm animals, While generally efficacious in the treatment of diabetes, animal-derived insulin is not indistinguishable from human insulin, and may therefore produce allergic reactions. Genentech researchers produced artificial genes for each of the two protein chains that comprise the insulin molecule. The artificial genes were “then inserted. Into plasmids … among a group of genes that: Are activated by lactose. Thus, the insulin producing genes were also activated by lactose. The recombinant plasmids were inserted into Escherichia coli bacteria, which were “induced to produce 100,000 molecules of either chain A or chain B human insulin.” The two protein chains were then combined to produce insulin molecules.\

Fig: Insulin

Production of vitamin:

Bacteria like E. Coli present in human colon are involved in synthesis of vitamins like vitamin b12, folic acid, biotin and K, which may be used by the host. Such bacteria are often used for commercial preparation of vitamins like riboflavin.

Fig: The E. coli bacterium Fig: Chemical structure of Riboflavin

Antibiotics From fungi

Fungi are well known as a source of antibiotics but new therapeutic compounds with novel pharmacological activities have also been developed in recent years. One such example are the cyclosporins and later shown to possess immunosuppressive activity.

Cyclosporin A (C₆₂H₁₁₁N₁₁O₁₂) is currently the most widely used drug for preventing rejection of human organ transplants.

Fig: Chemical structure of Cyclosporin A

Production of Antiseptic:

Antisepticsare antimicrobial substances that are applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis or putrefaction. They should generally be distinguished from antibiotics that destroy bacteria within the body, and from disinfectants, which destroy microorganisms found on non-living objects. Some antiseptics are true germicides, capable of destroying microbes (bactericidal) whilst others are bacteriostatic and only prevent or inhibit their growth. Antibacterial are antiseptics that only act against bacteria. Microbicides which kill virus particles are called viricides. Some common examples of antiseptics are alcohols, Quaternary ammonium compounds, Boric acid, Chlorhexidine Gluconate, Hydrogen peroxide, Iodine, phenol etc.

For the growth of bacteria there must be a food supply, moisture, in most cases oxygen, and a certain minimum temperature. These conditions have been studied and applied in preserving of food and the ancient practice of embalming the dead, which is the earliest known systemic use of antiseptics. In early inquiries, there was much emphasis on the prevention of putrefaction, and procedures were carried out to find how much of an agent must be added to a given solution in order prevent development of undesirable bacteria. However, for various reasons, this method was inaccurate, and today an antiseptic is judged by its effect on pure cultures of defined pathogenic celicular single helix microbes and their vegetative and spore forms. The standardization of antiseptics has been implemented in many instances, and a water solution of phenol of a certain fixed strength is now used as the standard to which other antiseptics are compared.

Medical Microbiology:

Medical Microbiology helps in the diagonostic protocol for identification of causative agents of various human aliments, alimentes & subsepuents preventive measures. Some are stated blew:

Infection control:

Inaction control using knowledge to control infection, or prevent the spread of disease.

Genetic Engineering:

Microorganisms can now be genetically engineered to manufacture large amounts of human hormones and other urgently needed substance. It is the study of how genes are organized and regulated in microbes in relation to their cellular functions, closely related to the field of molecular biology. Microorganisms play a central role in recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. Important tools of biotechnology are microbial cells, microbial genes, and microbial enzymes. This information is a key step for the pharmacists in their research and general preparation of various medications. This opens the possibility for microbial production of foods, fuels, hormones, diagnostics agents, medicines, antibiotics, antibodies, vaccines that is useful in our society and civilization.

Fig: Microbial genetics

Other scope of microbiology:

Pharmaceutical Microbiology:

Pharmaceutical Microbiology – is the part of industrial microbiology that is responsible for creating medications. The making of life-saving drugs, antibiotics e.g. Penicillin’s, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines, and streptomycin belong to the sector of pharmaceutical microbiology. There are many useful products made by microbes.

Industrial microbiology:

Industrial microbiology making of ethanol, acetic acid lactic acid, citric acid, glucose, syrup, high-fructose syrup.

Waste-Treatment Microbiology:

Waste-Treatment Microbiology treatment of domestic and industrial effluents or wastes by lowering the COD. Without microbes we would have an over abundance of dead things. We would run out of space on earth. Microbes are also used to clean up oil, toxic waste, and dynamite and sewage treatment.

Food Microbiology:

Food Microbiology ­­­­- Food chain are an important component of the food chain. They allow for recycling of nutrients and some microbes are actual parts of food chain. They allow for recycling of nutrients and some microbes are actual parts of food chain. Bacteria in ocean vents are the source of energy for ocean vents ecosystems. Brewing and backing have been carried out for thousands of years and both are depend on the conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeasts. In bread making carbon dioxide causes the dough to rise giving lightness to the bread whilst the alcohol is driven off during baking. Early processes were depending on contamination by ‘wild’ yeast .Today pure strains are normally employed and some 1.5 million tons of baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) are produced worldwide every year. Cheese production also has ancient origins.

Beverage Microbiology:

Beverage Microbiology making of beer, sandy, wine, and a variety of alcoholic beverage e.g. whisky, brandy, rum, gin, vodka, etc.

Aero microbiology:

Aero microbiology helps in the overall presentation and preparation of food, food prone dieses, and their ultimate prevention.

Exomicrobiology:

Exomicrobiology to help in the exploration of life in the outer space.

Geochemical microbiology:

Geochemical microbiology to help in the study of coal, mineral deposits, and gas formation; prospecting the deposits of gas and oil, coal, recovery of minerals from low –grade ores .Some bacteria have the ability to produce methane, one of the cleanest burning fuels.

Agricultural Microbiology:

Agricultural Microbiology Use of microbes in agriculture and farming symbiotically associated bacteria are able to biologically convert nitrogen gas present in the atmosphere into ammonia which helps in enriching the soil and promotes optimal growth of plants. Such bacteria are useful in the areas of agriculture and farming and increasing crop yield without use of chemical fertilizer. The use of fungi as biocontrol agents to kill insects (mycoinsecticides) and weeds (mycoherbicides) has the potential to replace many of the toxic chemicals currently in use. Several species of fungi have now been commercially formulated as mycoinsecticides.

Conclusion:

Throughout human history, natural products have been the foundation for the discovery and development of therapeutics used to treat diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancer. However, the chemical complexity of natural products also presents one of the main roadblocks for production of these pharmaceuticals on an industrial scale. Chemical synthesis of natural products is often difficult and expensive, and isolation from their natural sources is also typically low yielding.

Microbiology and metabolic engineering offer and alternative approach that are becoming more accessible as the tools for engineering microbes are further developed. Microbiology is researched actively, and the field is advancing continually. We have probably only studied about one percent of all of the microbe species on earth.