Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Uses of Microbes
- Summary
- What’s Next?
In the previous segment of the chapter ‘Microorganisms’, we studied about the Microbial Habitat. In this segment, let us get acquainted with Useful microbes for humans.
What are microbes used for?
Microbes are used for a variety of purposes. There are useful as well as harmful microbes. The useful ones benefit humans in a number of ways.
Medicinal Uses
Microbes are used in the preparation of Vaccines to prevent diseases. Vaccines contain microbes, which are weakened or killed, that cause the disease against which we are protecting the body. Sometimes they contain only a few important parts of the microbes. Thus, these microbes lack the capacity of infections. This prepares the immune system to design a strategy for killing the microbes, which is used later when the body encounters the same live microbes.
Microbes are used in the production of Antibiotics that help to cure diseases. Various bacteria and fungi are known to secrete potentially harmful chemicals towards other organisms growing in their vicinity. These chemicals are extracted and processed further to manufacture consumable medicines that are antibiotics. For example, the antibiotic Penicillin has been obtained from the fungi of genus Penicillium.
Commercial Uses
Anaerobic respiration of microbes leads to fermentation. Several important products are obtained due to the fermentation process. Microbes utilize the biomolecules in the food source and convert it into different compounds in the absence of oxygen. For example, juices are fermented to make wine, flour is fermented to make bread, etc.
- Household Uses
