Microorganisms play a critically important role in the environment, and have been exploited for purifying waste waters and bioremediation. Sewage and other waste waters must be treated before released into the natural waterways. Because of that massive influx of organic matter and mineral nutrients in waste water would trigger extensive microbial growth and oxygen consumption, causing die-offs of plants and animals and diminishing the aesthetic and recreational value of the water. To address the high nutrient load content of wastewaters, elaborate treatment facilities are employed to stimulate the activities of complex microbial communities. These communities work to remove as much organic carbon and other polluting nutrients (such as nitrates and phosphates) from the wastewaters as possible. Following treatment, the water can be safely released into rivers or other water bodies.

To produce potable drinking water, additional treatment is necessary to remove potentially pathogenic microorganisms and remaining toxic substances. Drinking water production includes the coagulation and filtration of already high-quality surface or subsurface water followed by disinfection with chlorine and transport of the water through water mains to the consumer. The entire process of drinking water production must be carefully implemented and monitored to prevent breakdowns that can lead to severe incidents of waterborne illness, such as cholera and typhoid fever.

Environmental pollution occurs either from natural events or human activities. Microbial bioremediation is typically a cost-effective method for removing environmental pollutants and, in many cases, it is the only practical way to accomplish the process. Bioremediation is grounded in the astounding diversity of metabolic reactions capable in the microbial world.

Thus, if some pollutants such as crude oil is spilled in the environment, oil-consuming microbes applied to the spill site to clean up the mess by oxidizing hydrocarbons in the oil to carbon dioxide (CO2). Similarly, microbes that can degrade pesticides (insecticides and herbicides) are beneficial to minimize the accumulation of poisonous substances of pesticides to the environment and indirect damage of plants and animals. However, the majority of pollutants are not biodegradable, and can enter the natural nutrient cycle through the activities of microorganisms.

Humans owe a considerable debt to the microbial world for keeping planet Earth habitable and healthy. If cyanobacteria had never become established on earth, then the oxygen that we breathe and depend on, would have never been produced. And if it were not for microbes today, the daily activities of humans would eventually cause damage to the environment beyond its capacity to sustain human life. The microbial world is clearly the foundation of the biosphere, and thus microbiology, which attempts to understand this unusual world, may be our most relevant biological science today.

Today, beneficial microorganisms are now getting wider applicability or uses. Beneficial microorganisms for instance, can be applied to the environment in three main ways namely the single strain, compound strains, and multiple strains with some synergists. The beneficial microorganisms’ function by catalyzing the decomposition of organic matter in order not only to maintain microbial ecological equilibrium in water and sediments, thus creating favorable conditions for aquatic life, but also maintain the dynamic ecological balance among various organisms from all kingdoms. Beneficial microbes therefore, perform several functions in microbes’ ecology whether in water and sediments including,
   ● Adjusting the population of algae in water bodies in order to prevent the deterioration of quality of the water.
   ● Inhibiting the development of fish diseases as well as putrefaction of some aquatic plants during summer.
   ● Bolstering the immune system of aquatic animals, thus enhancing the aquatic animals resistant to diseases.
● Suppressing the harmful effects of oxidation through generating antioxidant substances as well as through the accompanying antioxidants substances as well as through the accompanying antioxidant emission of waves.
Additionally, beneficial microbes can deactivate the occurring free radicals in living organisms and materials.

Microorganisms are important part of fresh water ecosystem. Usually, they are unicellular and cannot be seen with naked eye. Though they are small in size they play a vital role in the ecosystem management. The fresh water microorganisms have both positive and negative role in fresh water ecosystem. Microbes are main source of decomposition. Decomposer microorganisms form an important part of fresh-water ecosystem because they consume dead bodies of aquatic plants, animals and other microbes. Leaves are the major nutrient source within streams, rivers and other fresh water ecosystem. Bacteria play an important role in breaking down of leaves into smaller dissolved organic matter. Due to the microbial decomposition, the soil becomes fertile which help more production of aquatic plants.

As well as, microorganisms play an important role in oxygen production. Microorganisms like blue green algae cyanobacteria are found in the fresh water ecosystem like lakes, rivers etc. They produce a huge quantity of oxygen through photosynthesis. The area of effective sewage sludge disposal is experiencing unprecedented growth and development in technological innovations. These advancements aim to ensure that waste disposal conforms to strict environmental demands and regulations. Beneficial microorganism is a product in liquid form and consists of a variety of not only effective and beneficial microorganisms but also non-pathogenic ones, with admirable coexisting between aerobic and anaerobic types of microorganisms. The advantage of essential microorganism technology is not only eco-friendly but also plays a crucial role in environmental protection.

By M.Renuka

2023/AM/12

References
1. Abdel-megeed A, El-nakieb FA (2006) Bioremediation of dimethoate by effective micro-organisms in Egyptian contaminated water
2. Ahmad J(2017) Bioremediation of petroleum sludge using effective microorganisms(EM) technology-Pet. Sci Technol
3. Bonaventura C., Johnson F.M. (O1997). Healthy environments for healthy people: bioremediation today and tomorrow. Environ. Health Perspect., 1: 5 -20

Microorganisms play a crucial role in food microbiology, impacting food quality and safety, production, and preservation. These tiny organisms including bacteria, yeast, molds, and viruses, could have both beneficial and harmful effects on food. Understanding their role and management is essential for ensuring food quality and safety.

•    Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB): Lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Streptococcus, are integral to the fermentation process in dairy products, sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles. These bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid, which acts as a preservative by lowering the pH and inhibiting the growth of spoilage organisms. The production of lactic acid also contributes to the flavor, texture, and nutritional value of fermented foods.

•    Yeast: Yeasts like Saccharomyces cerevisiae are essential for the fermentation of bread, beer, and wine. In bread-making, yeast ferments sugars to produce carbon dioxide, which leavens the dough. In alcoholic beverages, yeast ferments sugars to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide, which contribute to the flavor and alcohol content.

•    Molds: Certain molds, such as Penicillium species, are used in the production of cheeses like Roquefort, Camembert, and Brie. These molds contribute to the development of unique textures and flavors in these cheeses through the breakdown of fats and proteins.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when consumed in adequate amounts, provide health benefits to the consumer. Common probiotic strains include Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species. These beneficial bacteria are found in fermented dairy products like yogurt and kefir, as well as in dietary supplements. Probiotics help maintain a healthy gut microbiota, enhance immune function, and may prevent gastrointestinal infections. Probiotics are increasingly incorporated into various food products, including non-dairy alternatives, cereals, and beverages. The challenge of incorporating probiotics into foods is ensuring their survival during processing and storage and maintaining their viability until consumption.

Pathogens:

Bacteria: Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter are major causes of foodborne illnesses. These bacteria can contaminate food at various stages of the food production chain, from farm to table. Proper hygiene, cooking, and refrigeration practices are critical to prevent bacterial contamination and growth.

Viruses: Foodborne viruses, including norovirus and hepatitis A virus, can cause significant health issues. These viruses are often transmitted through contaminated water, food, or surfaces. Implementing good hygiene practices and ensuring safe water sources are essential to prevent viral contamination.

Parasites: Parasites like Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and Toxoplasma gondii can contaminate food and water, leading to severe infections. Ensuring proper cooking and food handling practices can minimize the risk of parasitic infections.

Spoilage Organisms:

Bacteria: Spoilage bacteria, such as Pseudomonas and Bacillus species can cause food to deteriorate and develop off-flavors, odors, and textures. These bacteria thrive under improper storage conditions, making temperature control and good sanitation practices vital in preventing spoilage.

Molds and Yeasts: Spoilage molds and yeasts can grow on various food products, causing visible mold growth, off-flavors, and textural changes. Some molds produce mycotoxins, which are toxic to humans and animals. Proper storage and handling practices are necessary to prevent mold and yeast contamination.

1. Hurdle Technology:
Hurdle technology involves using multiple preservation methods simultaneously to inhibit microbial growth and ensure food safety. Each method, or hurdle, targets different aspects of microbial physiology, creating a combined effect that enhances food preservation.
Examples: Common hurdles include temperature control (refrigeration, freezing, pasteurization), water activity reduction (drying, adding salt or sugar), pH control (acidification), and the use of preservatives (natural or chemical).

2.Biopreservation:
Natural Antimicrobials: Biopreservation involves using natural antimicrobials such as bacteriocins, organic acids, and essential oils to control microbial growth. Bacteriocins, produced by certain bacteria, are proteins that inhibit the growth of closely related bacterial species. Organic acids, such as acetic acid and citric acid, lower the pH of foods, inhibiting microbial growth. Essential oils from herbs and spices have antimicrobial properties and are used in some food products to enhance flavor and preservation.
Microbial Cultures: Protective microbial cultures, including LAB and propionic acid bacteria, can be added to foods to outcompete spoilage organisms and pathogens. These cultures produce antimicrobial compounds and create unfavorable conditions for unwanted microorganisms.

3. Hygiene and Sanitation:
Importance: Maintaining high standards of hygiene and sanitation throughout the food production process is critical for preventing microbial contamination. This includes proper cleaning and disinfection of equipment, surfaces, and hands, as well as implementing good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) systems.
Training: Educating food handlers and workers about the importance of hygiene, proper food handling, and sanitation practices is essential for minimizing the risk of contamination and ensuring food safety.  

1.    Molecular Techniques:

Identification and Typing: Advances in molecular biology have revolutionized the identification and typing of microorganisms in food. Techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and metagenomics allow for rapid and accurate detection of pathogens and spoilage organisms. These methods also enable the tracing of contamination sources and the monitoring of microbial communities in food products.

Predictive Microbiology: Predictive microbiology uses mathematical models to predict the growth, survival, and inactivation of microorganisms under various environmental conditions. These models help in designing safe food processing and storage conditions and in assessing the risk of microbial contamination.
2.    Probiotics and Prebiotics:

Synbiotics: The combination of probiotics and prebiotics, known as synbiotics, is an emerging area of interest. Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Synbiotics aim to enhance the survival and colonization of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract, providing synergistic health benefits.

Microbiome Research: Advances in microbiome research have deepened our understanding of the complex interactions between the gut microbiota and health. This knowledge is driving the development of new probiotic strains and functional foods designed to modulate the gut microbiota and improve health outcomes.

1. Antimicrobial Resistance:
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in foodborne pathogens poses a significant challenge to public health. The misuse and overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and food production contribute to the development and spread of resistant strains. Addressing AMR requires a multifaceted approach, including the prudent use of antibiotics, the development of alternative antimicrobial strategies, and the implementation of robust surveillance and monitoring systems.

2. Climate Change:
Climate change affects the prevalence and distribution of foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms. Changes in temperature, humidity, and precipitation patterns can influence microbial growth and contamination risks. The food industry must adapt to these changes by implementing flexible and resilient food safety management systems. Research into the impacts of climate change on food microbiology is essential for developing effective mitigation strategies.

3. Consumer Preferences:
Increasing consumer demand for natural, minimally processed, and sustainable food products presents both opportunities and challenges. Consumers seek foods with clean labels, free from artificial preservatives, and produced using environmentally friendly practices. The industry must innovate to meet these demands while ensuring food safety and quality. This includes developing natural preservatives, leveraging biopreservation techniques, and optimizing processing methods to maintain the integrity and safety of food products.

Conclusion
In food microbiology, microorganisms are essential because they affect food production, safety, and preservation. Harmful bacteria severely compromise food safety, whereas beneficial microorganisms aid in the fermentation and production of probiotics. Advancements in the field are enhancing the ability to control and harness microbes in food production, facilitated by progress in molecular methods, predictive microbiology, and microbiome research. The field of food microbiology will need to address issues such as changing customer preferences, antibiotic resistance, and climate change. By using microorganisms, the food industry can continue advancing food sustainability, quality, and safety.

J.H.Tharudini

References:
Axel C, Zannini E, Arendt EK. Mold spoilage of bread and its biopreservation: A review of current strategies for bread shelf life extension. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 2017;57:3528-3542. DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1147417
Chen D, Qian XA. Brief History of Bacteria: The Everlasting Game between Humans and Bacteria. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company; 2018. pp. 1-256. DOI: 10.1142/10573
Hu Y, Zhang L, Wen R, Chen Q , Kong B. Role of lactic acid bacteria in flavor development in traditional Chinese fermented foods: A review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 2022;62:2741-2755. DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1858269
Zacharof MP, Lovitt RW. Bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria a review article. Apcbee Procedia. 2012;2:50-56. DOI: 10.1016/j.apcbee.2012.06.010 Thapa N, Tamang JP. Functionality and therapeutic values of fermented foods. Health Benefits of Fermented Foods. 2015;111:168

Many of the most common infections are caused by viruses and bacteria. Examples of viral diseases are the common cold, influenza, hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS. A few examples of bacterial diseases are tuberculosis, salmonella (food poisoning), tetanus, pneumonia and chlamydia. To treat these diseases antimicrobial drugs are used.
Antimicrobial medicines have changed modern medicine greatly. If we look back at the history of antibiotic drugs, Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, Penicillin in 1928 which saved millions of lives during the Second World War. The death rate from pneumonia was about 30% before its use. After the first use of antibiotics in the 1940s, they transformed medical care dramatically by reducing illnesses and deaths from infectious diseases.
Antibiotics are drugs that are used to kill bacteria. Taking antibiotics unnecessarily can result in bacteria becoming resistant to the antibiotic. Over time, some bacterial groups can evolve to resist these drugs. It is called Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which is the situation when bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites no longer respond to the antimicrobial drugs to which they were originally sensitive as a result of developing resistant mechanisms as they are continuously faced with antimicrobial drugs. Thus preventing diseases caused by them is challenging to all health care systems, increasing the risk of disease spreading, severe illness and high death rates globally.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report of 2019, AMR is responsible for the deaths of 700,000 people, while it’s estimated that by 2050 the figure will have risen to 20 million, costing over $ 2.9 trillion.

All microorganisms are evolving. Their main purpose is to survive and reproduce to grow in number as rapidly as possible. Therefore, they adapt to their environment to ensure continued existence. If any factor stops their ability to grow such as antimicrobial drugs, genetic changes may occur to make the microorganism resistant to the drug and allow them to survive in that environment.
Antimicrobial resistance was initially observed in staphylococci, streptococci and gonococci; after the very first commercial antibiotic, penicillin was introduced to the market in 1941, and penicillin-resistant S. aureus emerged just a year later, in 1942. Again, methicillin, a penicillin-related semi-synthetic antibiotic that was introduced in the market in 1960 to combat penicillin-resistant S. aureus become resistant to methicillin the very same year. AMR has been a major source of concern over the years, as it takes no time for an antibiotic to establish resistance, and with more than 70% of pathogenic bacteria being resistant to at least one antibiotic, it has now become one of the most serious challenges to public health, food protection, and sustainable healthcare. Studies show that bacteria like E. coli, S. aureus, S. pneumoniae and K. pneumoniae were the most widely identified resistant bacteria. Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic widely used to treat urinary tract infections (UTIs).  According to the latest reports issued by the WHO, resistance to Ciprofloxacin ranges from 8.4 to 92.9% for E. coli and from 4.1 to 79.4% for K. pneumoniae. Penicillin resistance ranges up to 51% in many countries.

The rise and the spread of drug-resistant pathogens is a threat to humans as the treatment of common infections becomes increasingly difficult and the risk of exposing patients to such pathogens during the performance of critical life-saving procedures such as cancer chemotherapy, caesarian surgeries, organ transplantation and many other surgeries is high. On the other hand, drug-resistant pathogens impact the health of plants and animals in agricultural fields and farms by reducing productivity and causing a threat to food security. Thus AMR imposes a heavy cost on both the health system and national economics by needing more expensive and intensive care and loss of agricultural productivity.

Bacteria or microorganisms are very small organisms, that are invisible to the naked eye. Many are harmless and even beneficial while some are pathogenic and cause severe diseases. To treat these diseases antibiotics are used.
Antibiotic resistance can happen when bacteria are treated with an antibiotic excessively and inappropriately. The antimicrobial drug kills many bacteria in or on a person’s body but some can survive. This can happen in many ways,
1. By developing an ability to surpass the drugs’ effect
       ● Bacteria inactivate antibiotics in one of two ways: by destroying the drug by producing enzymes, or by the chemical alteration of the drug
2. By changing the structure of target cells or entirely replacing them.

3. By developing an ability to pump the drug out of the bacterial cell
       ● Bacterial cells have a mechanism called efflux pumps which expels unwanted molecules from within the bacteria. They even can alter the pump to become more effective to remove antibiotics or they can produce more pumps.
       ● For example, resistance to antibiotics like erythromycin involves the production of more efflux pumps.

4. Change the bacterial DNA /gene (create mutations) so that the drug can no longer kill that bacterial strain.

By the above mechanisms, some bacteria will no longer respond to the antibiotic drug. With time they may grow and reproduce to make a new population of bacteria that are resistant to that antibiotic.
Not only do they cause infections but they can even spread the resistance to other bacteria that they may come across when,
●    Microbes join together and transfer DNA to each other
●    Free-floating DNA pieces (called plasmids) can be picked up by bacteria which can carry antibiotic resistance genes
●    Small pieces of DNA jump from one DNA molecule to another, and then are combined
●    DNA remnants are scavenged from dead or degraded bacteria.

If any one of these things occurs and a bacterium picks up a resistance gene and it gets added to the host bacterial genome (collection of all Genes within the bacteria), the bacterium will dominate over other bacteria of the same strain, and pass the resistance gene on to all of its daughter bacterial cells that they produce by rapid multiplication in less than 24 hours.

AMR can increase due to the excessive use of antibiotics in industrial animal farms. To increase feed efficiency (i.e. amount of feed it takes to produce a pound of animal) in farm animals, antibiotics are used to prevent disease in entire herds with no appropriate regulation, for too short a time or too small a dose, at inadequate strengths or for the wrong disease. Then bacteria are not killed by that antibiotic and can pass on survival traits to even more bacteria by above mentioned mechanisms.

Evolving-resistant bacteria will contaminate other external sources when the animals are slaughtered and processed. Fruits and vegetables are similarly contaminated when resistant bacteria from animal feces spread to them through the environment, such as through irrigation or fertilizers.
According to the World Health Organization, widespread use of antimicrobials for disease control and growth promotion in animals has been paralleled by an increase in resistance in those bacteria (such as Salmonella and Campylobacter) that can spread from animals, often through food, to cause infections in humans.

There are many pathways of human exposure to AMR bacteria that develop in industrial food animal production:
●    Improper handling and consumption of inadequately cooked contaminated meat, fruits and vegetables
●    Contact with infected farm workers or meat processors, and others with whom they interact
●    Consuming surface or groundwater, fruits, and vegetables contaminated with animal feces
●    Exposed to air that is vented from concentrated animal housing or is released during animal transport

One of the most important things we can do to avoid contributing to antibiotic resistance is that
remember not every infection needs to be treated with antibiotics. As an example, infections
caused by viruses such as flu and cold do not need to be treated with antibiotics as they are
not bacterial infections. A few other steps that we can take to consider this issue are,
●    Only take antibiotics when necessary and as prescribed by the doctor
●    Do not take leftover antibiotics from an old prescription
●    Do not take an antibiotic that was prescribed to someone else even though you both have the same symptoms
●    Take your antibiotics for exactly as long as prescribed, even when you feel better (because if you stop taking the full course of antibiotics, the remaining bacteria that did not get killed can develop resistance)
●    Do not discard leftover antibiotic drugs to the environment
●    Practice good hygienic habits such as washing hands with soap and water, wearing a mask
●    Prepare and cook food on clean surfaces
●    Always cook meats fully and avoid consuming raw dairy products

No new antibiotics have come onto the market since the 1980s and a new antibiotic could take 15-20 years to develop. Therefore scientists across the globe are engaged in research to find other methods to fight pathogens before the antibiotics we use today are no longer prescribable.
Recent improvements in biotechnology, genetic engineering, and synthetic chemistry have opened new pathways to solve this problem. A few methods are as below,

By using Bacteriophages
Bacteriophages are viruses that attack bacterial cells. These viruses attach to host bacteria and penetrate their cell wall to inject viral genetic material (DNA). This viral DNA forces the bacterium to produce its viral units and later explodes out of the bacterium and is released into the environment. Then these newly produced bacteriophages attack another bacterial cell, and the cycle goes on. This is an effective method for replacing antibiotics. Since the bacteriophages only interact with the target bacteria, in this case, disease-causing bacteria. They do not harm patients’ cells or good bacteria living in human or animal microbiota, such as gut bacteria. The use of antibiotics can kill gut bacteria which are beneficial to humans as they produce various vitamins (vitamin B complexes, Vitamin K). The major drawback of this method is you need to know exactly the bacteria the patient is infected with to find the right bacteriophage. It is a time-consuming process.

By using lysine

Lysine is an amino acid that can punch holes in bacterial cell walls. This will leak their cytoplasm to the outside and eventually kill them. Lysine is highly potent: microgram quantities can destroy millions of bacteria within seconds. Naturally occurring lysine is a good treatment option, but scientists are doing more research on genetically engineered lysine so it can kill more than one type of bacteria.

By using smart antibiotics (CRISPR-Cas9)

CRISPR-Cas9 is a defense mechanism used by bacteria to protect themselves from viruses. When the bacteriophages attack a bacterial host and inject their DNA into the host, a short sequence is inserted in the host genome to create a DNA segment known as a CRISPR array. These allow the bacteria to remember the virus that attacked it. These CRISPR arrays act as a kind of library of all of the pathogens that the bacterial cell has encountered. The bacterium can also pass this library onto its off springs as well. The bacteria use the Cas9 enzyme to disable other viruses by cutting up the virus’s DNA.

This mechanism is being researched by scientists to effectively use as the basis for future antibiotics. These smart antibiotics might be genetically engineered viruses programmed to attack only disease-causing bacteria.

To summarize, antimicrobial resistance has become a major threat to humans. Antimicrobial resistance is a natural process and bacteria have evolved to restrict antibiotic drug activity for centuries. The increase in antibiotic resistance, along with a lack of new antibiotics, shows a dreary future. Therefore, antibiotic usage must be regulated properly both on a country-wide and global scale. Stopping the usage of over-the-counter antibiotics and educating prescribers (doctors, pharmaceutical professionals, and other health care professionals) regarding antimicrobial resistance could further reduce antibiotic use.
To lower the inappropriate demand, awareness among the public must be increased. The agricultural applications need to be regulated by restricting the use of antibiotic drugs only to contaminated animals rather than overusing them. To overcome this issue novel methods, and new drugs should come to the market. To develop new medicines to fight infections as they become resistant, there should be a big effort, the government and the public sector must allocate funds to do research and produce new drugs.

B.K.M.Apekshi Rodrigo

2023/AM/13

References
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detailantimicrobial-resistance
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/a/antibiotic-resistance.html
Antibiotic resistance in microbes: History, mechanisms, therapeutic strategies, and future prospects – ScienceDirect
https://www.cdc.gov/narms/faq.html#content
https://www.antibioticresearch.org.uk/about-antibiotic-resistance/bacterial-infections/myths-about-antibiotic-resistance/

Biological control of plant pathogens is referred to as controlling disease causing organisms (pests) such as insects, mites, and weeds; using another beneficial organism. This is one of the best sustainable methods of plant disease management, instead application of agrochemicals.

The use of chemicals is a major practice of controlling pathogens in today’s world, to address the issue of losing crop quantity and quality due to plant diseases. Pesticides, insecticides, weedicides, and fungicides are the main types of agrochemicals used during crop cultivation and post-harvest management of food products. So far, chemicals have achieved a high rate of success in controlling plant pathogens, but it always comes at a cost.

Environmental problems and health related problems are the direct costs of using agrochemicals. Other than that, chemicals produce resistant pathogens making their control even more challenging.

This has created a requirement for sustainable disease control mechanisms to make sure that the present and the future of food production are in a safe zone, to feed the skyrocketing human population.

Fungus, bacteria, viruses, or a mixture of two or more microorganisms are used to control pathogenic organisms. Microbial biological control agents act via a range of modes of action in controlling pathogens.

Some microbial biological control agents compete with pathogenic microbes for nutrients, habitat, or optimum growth conditions. Obligate biotrophic pathogens infect living host cells and do not depend on nutrients from the outside environment. Necrotrophic pathogens kill the host tissues and utilize the available nutrients in them. Whereas some other pathogenic microbes depend on exogenous nutrients where they have to compete with other microbes. If the microbiome is already invaded by a biocontrol beneficial microbe with good genetical potential, the pathogen has to compete to colonize. Currently, recombinant DNA technology is used to develop such biological control agents with several beneficial characteristics.

Antagonists acting through hyper-parasitism and antibiosis directly interfere with the pathogen. Hyperparasites invade and kill mycelium, spores, and resting structures of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Such interactions between pathogens and biological control agents are regulated through various metabolic functions. Compounds such as enzymes, different signaling molecules, antibiotics, and other antimicrobial metabolites are produced when the biocontrol agent interacts with the pathogen. Production of secondary metabolites with anti-pathogenic properties at low concentrations in situ supports biological control agents to obtain a competitive advantage to colonize, absorb nutrients, and thereby, spread their colonies.

Highly effective microbes against pathogens can be selected to culture them on artificial media to be utilized at a mass scale during the growing season once or several times. Biocontrol products that are manufactured commercially by companies sometimes contain living microbes. On the other hand, some biocontrol products only contain antimicrobial metabolites extracted by biological control agents. In most cases, antimicrobial metabolites are produced by antagonists directly on the spot where the pathogenic target is present, so screening such antimicrobial products can only be done when the correct target interacts with the biocontrol agent.

It is expected that complex chemical communication happens within and in between microbiomes and plants including the contribution of signaling by microbial biocontrol agents to the continuous chemical crosstalk between organisms in the environment. It helps in inducing resistance in plants (MAMP triggered immunity) so that the pathogen is defended with a selective pressure and the pathogen may have to overcome to cause the disease in the host plant.

The future of microbial biocontrol agents depends mostly on better screening assays for finding the next generation with more capabilities to address the issue of less productivity of polluted and chemically treated land. Biological remediation of dumped and polluted lands is the hope of not only microbial biocontrol agents, but also all the beneficial microbes. Multi-omics for a better understanding of complex events in the microbial world can make the use of microbes in a correctly defined manner so that maximum efficiency is obtained.

Reffernces
Teixidó, N., Usall, J. et al. (2022). Insight into a Successful Development of Biocontrol Agents: Production, Formulation, Packaging, and Shelf Life as Key Aspects. Horticulturae, 8(4), 305.

Velivelli, S. L., De Vos, P. et al. (2014). Biological control agents: from field to market, problems, and challenges. Trends in Biotechnology, 32(10), 493-496.

Lahlali, R., Ezrari, S. et al. (2022). Biological control of plant pathogens: A global perspective. Microorganisms, 10(3), 596.

Köhl, J., Kolnaar, R. et al. (2019). Mode of action of microbial biological control agents against plant diseases: relevance beyond efficacy. Frontiers in plant science, 845.

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kwenti-Emmanuel-Tebit/publication/318324523/figure/fig1/AS:514977559990272@1499791626364/Images-of-some-common-parasites-pests-centre-cycle-and-biological-control-agents.png

Nano microbiology, which is a rapidly evolving field of research, exists at the crossroads of biology and nanoscience. Nanotechnology is a state-of-the-art technique of using particles between 1 to 100 nm, which originated as both organic and inorganic forms. Nevertheless, the size and shape depends on the method and the materials used in the fabrication process. The particle size is important because the physicochemical stability and biological activity of the particles depend on the size.

Various physical and chemical methods are broadly used for the synthesis of nanoparticles. Though these approaches offer higher production rate and better size control over the synthesized nanoparticles, they are considered unfavorable due to high capital cost, energy requirements, anaerobic conditions, use of toxic reagents and the generation of hazardous wastes. These downsides obscure the down streaming processes, raise production cost and cause apprehensions about the environment. Moreover, the chemically synthesized nanoparticles are less biocompatible and use of toxic chemicals for synthesis and lack of stability has limited their use in clinical applications. Therefore, development of environmentally safe, economical, and biocompatible procedures for synthesis of nanoparticles are desired. Synthesis of nanoparticles by biological means offers cheap, nontoxic and eco-friendly alternatives to their counter physical and chemical methods. Microbes are found to be tiny nano-factories and microbial synthesis of nanoparticles has merged biotechnology, microbiology and nanotechnology into a new field of nano-biotechnology. Metal–microbe interactions have been widely used for bioremediation and bioleaching biomineralization, but nano-biotechnology is still at its infancy. Owing to its potent benefits it may have promising applications in nano-medicine.

For biological synthesis of nanoparticles, microbes have been exploited all over the globe. Microbes like bacteria, fungi and yeasts are mostly preferred for nanoparticle (NPs) synthesis because of their fast growth rate, easy cultivation and their ability to grow at ambient conditions of temperature, pH and pressure. Owing to their adaptability to metal toxic environments, microorganisms possess intrinsic potential to synthesize nanoparticles of inorganic materials by following reduction mechanisms via intracellular and extracellular routes. Microbes trap metal ions from the environment and turn those metal ions into the elemental form using their enzymatic activities.

Bacteria can remarkably reduce heavy metal ions to produce nanoparticles. Researchers have demonstrated bacteria mediated interactive pathways responsible for metal ion reduction and their ability to precipitate metals on nanoscale. A major advantage of bacteria-based nanoparticle synthesis is their large scale sustainable production with minimal use of toxic chemicals, however there are certain limitations like laborious bacterial culturing processes, less control over their size, shape and distribution. Fungi also possess various intracellular and extracellular enzymes capable of producing mono-dispersed nanoparticles. Yield of nanoparticles is high in fungi as compared to bacteria due to relatively larger biomass. Various fungal species like Verticillium luteoalbum, Colletotrichum sp., Fusarium oxysporum, Trichothecium sp., Aspergillus oryzae, Alternaria alternata, Trichoderma viride etc., have been reported to produce nanoparticles with diverse shapes and sizes, which can be used in a vast range of applications.

References

Adegbeye, M. J., Elghandour, M. M. M. Y., Barbabosa-Pliego, A., Monroy, J. C., Mellado, M., Ravi Kanth Reddy, P., & Salem, A. Z. M. (2019). Nanoparticles in Equine Nutrition: Mechanism of Action and Application as Feed Additives. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 78, 29–37. doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2019.04.001

Fariq, A., Khan, T., Yasmin, A. (2017). Microbial synthesis of nanoparticles and their potential applications in biomedicine. Journal of Applied Biomedicine. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jab.2017.03.004

Joye, I. J., Davidov-Pardo, G., & McClements, D. J. (2014). Nanotechnology for increased micronutrient bioavailability. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 40(2), 168–182. doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2014.08.006

Rai, H.K. and Rai, P., 2018. Solar Energy Harvesting Using Nanotechnology. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 13(6), pp.348-353.

Image courtesy

Featured image – https://www.upol.cz/fileadmin/_processed_/8/a/csm_csm_bakterie_Zurnal_338f5257d5_d97f46f8c8.png
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Overweight is the major problem in today’s human population. The major reason for increasing overweight in the world is energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended due to increased intake of energy dense foods that are high in sugar and fat level and increased physical inactivity. The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016. Some recent WHO global estimates follow,
In 2016,

• More than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight and of these over 650 million adults were obese.
• 39% of adults aged 18 years and over (39% of men and 40% of women) were overweight.
• Overall, about 13% of the world’s adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese in 2016.

In 2019,

• 38.2 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight or obese.

Overweight is major risk factor for several noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease like stroke and heart disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders especially osteoarthritis and cancers associated with endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney, and colon.

Can gut bacteria be used to get rid of overweight? it is yes, it is most beneficial to the human population. Everyone knows there are several microorganisms associated with our gut. They are not having skinny or fat bacteria like this. But some microorganisms in your gut may help to maintain body shape and hold the answer to why some people prevent obesity. Human intestine contains trillions of mutually beneficial microorganisms and They create ecosystems that contract with functions like metabolism, hunger, and digestion. Those microbial communities perform various jobs in the colon, and they help to control metabolism other terms they affect the weight of the body. Some situations like the intestinal environment are imbalanced, that is affected for those microbial communities. In that situation lowering the number of beneficial ones and increased number of opportunistic pathogens or reduced diversity of gut microbiota. That situation is called ‘dysbiosis’. That can have an impact on the human body as well as health. That causes people to easily become overweight.

How does gut microbiota help for weight loss? They break down dietary fiber and turn it into short- chain fatty acid. That fatty acids have several functions like anti-inflammatory functions, maintaining healthy gut lining, regulating metabolism and food intake. Loss of some short-chain fatty acids like butyrate increases eating due to hunger that causes high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Some probiotics are inhibiting the absorption of dietary fat and increasing the amount of fat excreted. Some are fight with obesity by releasing appetite regulating hormones and increasing level of fat regulating proteins. Appetite regulation hormones are increased calories and fat burning rate. The fat regulating proteins are decreased fat storage.

Who are the bacteria influenced with body weight? that is very important. There are two types of gut bacteria associated with lean body weight. Akkermansia muciniphila and Christensenella minuta are those two bacteria who lean with loss of body weight because they are linked with preventing weight gain and found in slim individuals.
Akkermansia muciniphila feed on the mucus that lines the gut, and they are promoting the production which strengthens the intestinal barrier, the strong intestinal barrier prevents obesity. They also produce acetate; it is short chain fatty acid that regulates body fat stores and appetite. Abundance of A. muciniphila can be tried boost using prebiotic foods that fuel for their activities. Increasing intake of that kind of food helps to the growth of A. muciniphila in the gut and enhances protection against obesity. Cranberries, concord grapes, black tea, fish oil, bamboo shoots, flaxseeds, rhubarb extract are the best food to boost the abundance of those organisms.
Christensenella minuta that is the bacterium abundantly found in a skinny individual’s gut then scientists think they help to prevent obesity. Some people have them and some have not because it depends on genetic makeup of individuals.

How to increase gut microbiota for weight loss? The gut microbial health is influenced by the lifestyle of humans. The food and exercise also play critical roles for the diversity of gut microbiota and plant-based food and healthy fats help for their health- promoting services. The fiber contains plant food with different colour also helps to increase the diversity of gut microbiota. Considering lifestyle, physically active humans have balanced gut microbiota more than others.

Aerobic exercises like walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, and dancing the ones that get increased heart pumping increase the abundance of that kind of health promoting bacteria like Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and A. muciniphila. That helps to reduce risk of dysbiosis that are associated with being overweight. Red colour foods such as apples, tomatoes, red onion etc. , yellow colour foods such as banana, corn etc., orange colour foods such as mangoes, turmeric etc., ,green colour foods such as green tea, cabbage etc., and purple colour foods such as blueberries, purple grapes etc. , are the foods help for maintain balanced gut microbiota for weight loss. The scientist said, “eat rainbow to prevent obesity and get a healthy life”. The lots of research that shows long term weight gain is associated with imbalance of gut microbiota due to lack consuming fibrous foods. There is not any supplement of microbiota for increased beneficial gut microorganisms it can be only done by intake of lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds, polyphenol rich foods such as dark chocolate, green tea, fermented food such as yogurt, kefir, and prebiotic fibers.
What are the factors affect for decrease beneficial gut microbiota? The most critical factor for dysbiosis is high levels of sugar and fats. The intake of antibiotics also reason for imbalance of gut microbiota because they disrupt microbial communities in gut and slow down growth rate or killing them also. Some research that shows intake of antibiotics indirectly affect for world obesity problem. Less intake of sugar, artificial sweetness and meat is very important to maintain gut microbiota. Sugary foods stimulate the growth of certain unhealthy bacteria in gut, and they influence for overweight. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin reduce beneficial microbes in gut. Unhealthy fats help to grow disease causing bacteria to affect the disbalancing of gut microbiota.

Finally, all may know, all have unique gut microbiomes. The diversity of gut microbiomes depends on a person’s lifestyle. The main thing you must understand is not having weight loss microbes, but they indirectly help for losing body weight using their products and functions mentioned below.

References:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
Cani, P, D and de Vos, W, M., Next-Generation Beneficial Microbes: The Case of Akkermansia muciniphila, 2017
Hold, G, L., The Gut Microbiota, Dietary Extremes and Exercise. 2014
Menni, C et al., Gut Microbiome Diversity and High-Fiber Intake Are Related to Lower Long-Term Weight Gain., 2017
Zhou, K., Strategies to Promote Abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, 2017
https://atlasbiomed.com
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Featured image : https://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/performance-weight-loss
Figure 1 : https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00035
Figure 2 : https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-gut-microbiome-implicated-healthy-aging.html

There are many diseases caused by microorganisms. They can be viruses, bacteria, fungi or any other microorganisms. Pathogens are microorganisms that have the potential to cause diseases. An infection of a pathogen does not always result in a disease. The infection is a process that can be seen as a battle between the invading pathogens and the host. Our bodies are equipped to fight off invading pathogens and that may prevent diseases. It is called natural defence. When the invading pathogen has the ability to overcome the host's natural defence, it will make disease on the host.
Vaccination is an effective and safe way of protecting people against harmful diseases. It uses the body's natural defence to build resistance to specific infections and makes peoples’ immune system stronger. Vaccines consist of dead or inactivated microorganisms or the purified products of microorganisms. When scientists create vaccines, they consider how the host immune system responds to the pathogen, which needs to be vaccinated against the pathogen and the best technology or approach to create a vaccine.
There are four types of conventional vaccines. They are,

• Inactivated vaccines
• Live attenuated vaccines
• Toxoid vaccines
• Subunit vaccines.

Inactivated vaccines for a disease are developed using killed microorganisms which are causing the same disease. These microorganisms can be killed using heat or chemicals. These inactivated vaccines do not provide immunity as strong as live vaccines. So people may need to get vaccinated several doses over time against ongoing diseases. Inactivated vaccines are used to protect against Hepatitis A, Flu, Polio, and Rabies.
Live-attenuated vaccines are developed using living microorganisms by suppressing their harmful properties or by using related harmless organisms. These vaccines are more similar to natural infection. These are the most beneficial vaccines for healthy adults and provide long lasting immune suppressive responses. Therefore one or two doses are sufficient for life time of protection against pathogens and the disease it causes. But live attenuated vaccines have some limitations due to the presence of living microorganisms. It can cause problems in peoples who have weakened immune systems, long term health problems and who have had an organ transplant. Also live vaccines should be kept cool. That is another limitation of the live vaccines. Live vaccines are used to protect against yellow fever, chickenpox, smallpox, Rotavirus and measles, mumps, rubella (MMR combined vaccine).
Toxoid vaccines are inactivated toxins which are made by a pathogen that cause relevant disease and they do not cause disease. Compared to inactivate and live attenuated vaccines, toxoid vaccines do not consist of relevant microorganisms as live or inactivated. In the method of toxoid vaccines, immune responses are targeted to the toxins instead of the whole pathogen. These types of vaccines are used to protect against diphtheria, tetanus.
In Sub unit vaccines, a part of the microorganism is used to trigger immune responses instead of introducing inactivated microorganisms into the immune system. A good example for the subunit vaccine is the hepatitis B vaccine. This vaccine is produced by protein substances on the surface of the virus. The human papillomavirus vaccine is another example for the subunit vaccine. It is made from the capsid protein of the virus. Since these vaccines are using only specific pieces of the pathogen, they give very strong immune responses that are targeted to key parts of the pathogen .The advantage of the subunit vaccines is it can be used on almost everyone who needs them, including people with weak immune systems and long term health problems. But people may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against protection against diseases.

The latest step of the vaccine is the development of innovative vaccines and scientists are still working to create new types of vaccines. Recombinant vector vaccines and DNA vaccines are examples for the innovative vaccines.
DNA vaccines are consisting of viral or bacterial DNA and when vaccinated they will enter into human or animal cells. Then some cells of the immune system attack the cells which contain entered DNA. Because these cells live longer, the pathogen that produces these proteins naturally enters the body at a later time and is immediately attacked by the immune system. One of the advantages of these DNA vaccines is that they are very easy to manufacture and store. These vaccines are still in the experimental stage.
When considering the method of recombinant vector vaccines, it develops the immunization against diseases with a highly complex infection process by combining the physical properties of one microorganism with the DNA of another microorganism.

By considering all above here, we can understand that microorganisms' helps to heal and prevent most of the diseases made by microorganisms.

References:
https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/types
https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/types-of-vaccine
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Featured image:
https://microbiologysociety.org/static/a7e1d65b-63e4-4ff4-849f49fd119d7421/600x400_highestperformance_/MMR-vaccine.jpg
Figure 1:
https://www.genscript.com/recombinant-vaccine.html

Microorganisms are usually organisms that are less than 1mm in size which include viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and many microscopic algae. Microorganisms can be both harmful as well as beneficial to mankind. Bacteria are unicellular organisms that are capable of multiplying rapidly under suitable conditions. Bacterial cell represents the typical prokaryotic cell which have definite shape and ranges from typically between 0.5 – 5.0 micrometers in length.

But, there is someone who is exceptional…

Sulfur Pearl of Namibia, is the largest bacteria that was discovered so far. As some group of American, German and Spanish scientists discovered them in the coasts of Namibia which is thought to have linked with sulphur and nitrogen cycles of the environmental cycles. It was named as Thiomargarita namibiensis. The bacteria is found in chains of ten or more cells and each cell is spherical and 0.75mm in length which makes it visible to the naked eye. The chain of cells is enclosed within a slime sheath which makes them non motile.

As the name suggests, the bacteria feeds on sulphur found near the coasts and it gives a pearl appearance which makes it more visible. The shiny pearl appearance is due to the light reflected by the sulphur granules stored within the bacteria. The bacteria have been adapted to survive in an environment where there is low oxygen but high concentration of hydrogen sulphide which is considered to be toxic to most forms of life.

Micrscopical examination discovered that a large part of the volume of the cell is taken up by a vacuole. These organisms utilizes the vacuole to store the nitrates that it uses to oxidize sulfide. Thiomargarita survives in large numbers and is unstable in sea floor. When a storm emerges, it churns the water which provides a nitrate-rich water into the sediments. This is taken up by the bacteria and is stored inside the vacuole which enables them to survive for months.

The analysts noticed that nitrate fixations inside the cell could be up to 10.000 times higher than in the encompassing ocean water. This mix of the oxidation of sulfide with the decrease of nitrate provides the microbes with an energy source which isn’t available for most microorganisms without oxygen. This makes it possible to utilize the bacteria to remediate coastal waters which are polluted by excess nitrates from agricultural run-off.

Reference
Heide N Schulz-Vogt (2002). Thiomargarita namibiensis: Giant microbe holding its breath. ASM news,volume 68, number 3, 2002.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/1999-04/M-TLBS-160499.php
https://www.umsl.edu/microbes/files/pdfs/agiantmicrobe.pdf
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/1999-04/AAft-BBEF-160499.php

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Featured image : https://sciencepolicyivh.wordpress.com/tag/t-namibiensis
Figure 1 : https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/1999/04/16/22180.htm

Rabies, one of the most dangerous diseases caused by animal bites. There are so many myths as well as unknown and unclear facts regarding this disease. Somehow this article is aimed to clear out many facts about rabies and provide better knowledge about this disease to the public.
Rabies is derived from the Latin word “rabere” which gives you the mean madness. This is one of the oldest human diseases, with the highest case fatality rate. Many controlling strategies have come out with time. Louis Pasture in 1881 worked on controlling rabies by immunization of dogs. In 1885 a vaccine for human rabies developed. In 1903 Adelchi Negri discovered Negri bodies, a major milestone achieved in the diagnosis journey of rabies.

Many people think just only about a furious dog when they hear the word rabies. But the story is totally different. Actually, rabies is a virus where it can transmit via the saliva of many mammals that live around us. So it is nice to know about this virus. Rabies virus comes under the family Rhabdoviridae. This is an enveloped bullet-shaped virus. Enveloped means this virus has a covering around this virus. But many of the enveloped viruses are very weak in harsh conditions. So we can have an idea about the survival condition of this virus once you know rabies as an enveloped virus. So would like to mention that this virus cannot withstand sunlight, along with exposure to air drying, boiling, or strong acids and alkalis. Also, this virus can be killed by iodine and detergents. Something very important to know about the rabies virus is that this virus does not invade the blood and cause disease. This is a neurotropic virus which means these viral particles are very like to nerves in our body.

Actually, there are seven types of this virus that differ from each other by small factors. But important to know is only the rabies virus type 1 which is the classical human rabies pathogen. This is a zoonotic infection. Which means they are transmitted from animals. There is a myth among people that rabies can transmit from human to human. There is no human to human transmission. But the virus present in human saliva. There are also extremely rare cases of mother to child transmission. Actually as mentioned above rabies only transmit from animals. What is important to know is this virus can infect warm blooded animals.

How does it transmit?

Transmission mainly occurs via a bite from an infected animal through broken skin. Scratches from paws contaminated with saliva, lick on an open wound also can cause entry of this virus to the body. Other routes of infection are intact mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose, and mouth.
There is evidence of getting rabies in non-bite exposures as well. Can it cause infection by inhalation? Yes, but there are only a few cases of getting rabies by inhaling large amounts of aerosolized virus. There are some evidence of getting rabies during surgeries such as corneal transplants and renal transplants. Ingestion of raw meat from animals with rabies is not a confirmed source of infection.

Something about epidemiology…

Rabies has become a burden to the world because about 55,000 people die from rabies each year.
Also, it has been found that though all age groups are susceptible, rabies is most common in children younger than 15 years. In contrast to other countries bats account for most human rabies cases in the United States.

Story of infection…

Actually, viral particles are present in secretions (eg: saliva, tears, urine, and milk) of an infected animal. The Rabies virus can enter into your body

• via deep penetrating wounds due to the animal bite,
• via abrasions and scratches on the skin,
• via mucus membrane exposed to saliva from the licks.

But the virus does not penetrate intact skin.

Once the virus enters the body it replicates initially at the site of entry. Then it attaches directly to nerve endings. Then virus travels along the nerves towards the spinal cord and then to the brain. Not only that, these viral particles replicate massively within the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
Then these replicated viral particles spread centrifugally from the central nervous system to peripheral nerves. This spread is more via nerves to highly innervated tissues like salivary glands. Something very important for you to know is that the incubation period varies and it depends on three factors.

1. Site of entry, If the entry wound is at the face, neck, or the head the incubation period is short. But if the site of entry is distal then the incubation period is long.
2. Age of patient, children have a short incubation period.
3. Amount of virus in the wound.

Features of rabid animals

rabies is primarily a zoonotic disease of warm-blooded animals. Actually, there are two major types of animal behaviors as
1.Furious rabies
2.Dumb rabies

Furious rabid dogs are very aggressive and bite without provocation. Features of them are characteristic of “mad dog syndrome”. Their voice changes and they growls in a hoarse voice. One of the major features is excessive salivation. Finally, there is a paralytic stage which leads to coma and death. Dumb rabid dogs are silent. They do not show any excitatory or irritative stage. They always try to withdraw from being seen or disturbed. Most of the time animals with dumb rabies die about in 3 days. One important fact about these types of animals is that the virus can be present in saliva 3-4 days before the onset of symptoms and during the cause of the illness till death.

Features of rabies in human

The onset of rabies in humans is fairly quiet. Initially, there is a period with fever, malaise, headache, tiredness, sore throat, lack of appetite, myalgia, and photophobia.

Then the disease worsens to the stage of excitement where mood changes occur. In this stage, the sleep is greatly disturbed anxiousness and irritation are the main features. Patients get frightened when examined or disturbed. They suffer from paresthesia and pain at the site of a healed wound. There is another prominent feature that is the tone of the affected muscles increases and it becomes generalized with time. Man also shows two major types of feature during infection as animals. They are furious rabies or encephalitic type and paralytic or dumb rabies.

Furious rabies is the most common type among humans which accounts for about 80% of total cases. The autonomic nervous system is affected mainly in this type. These patients show excessive salivation, lacrimation, sweating, and blood pressure changes. They also suffer from laryngopharyngeal spasms which is commonly called as hydrophobia. This is a condition that provokes with the attempt to drink water, water splash on the skin, sight, or sound of water. So that the respiration gets occluded due to spasms. In Contrast to furious rabies, paralytic or dumb rabies affects the spinal cord of the human mainly

Something interesting about the laboratory diagnosis of rabies in animals 

Laboratories perform only postmortem diagnosis for animals. The animal is killed and the head is separated first. Then the head is transported in a leak-proof wide-mouthed container. Then it is put into a secondary container and ice is packed in-between them. If the animal is small whole carcass is sent to the laboratory.

There are only two places in Sri Lanka to do laboratory diagnosis. They are the Medical Research Institute (MRI) and Teaching Hospital Karapitiya.

If there is a delay in transportation brain is dissected by a veterinary surgeon.

Something interesting about the laboratory diagnosis of rabies in humans

There are antemortem as well as post-mortem diagnosis for humans. Ante-mortem samples like corneal impressions, nuchal biopsies, and saliva are taken from patients. Post-mortem samples are taken from the cut parts of the salivary gland and brain.

What happens after an exposure?

A rabies exposure is categorized mainly into two as Major exposure and Minor exposure. There are many factors to consider to determine whether the exposure is major or minor. They are mentioned in the rabies management guidelines and will be managed accordingly after considering the type of exposure. There are instances in which the incident is not considered as an exposure. They are mentioned in the following list as they are really important,

1. Contamination of intact skin with the saliva of a proven rabid animal.
2. Eating leftovers that were consumed by a rabid animal.
3. Drinking raw milk of rabid cow or goat.
4. House rat bites.
5. Drinking water from a well where an animal has fallen and died.

Persons at high risk of exposure like lab staff, veterinarians, and animal handlers are given post-exposure therapy.

Things to do after an exposure…

At the place of accident ;

• Wounds should be washed immediately with soap and water at least for 5 minutes.

At the hospital for further treatments;

• Wounds should be cleaned thoroughly with 70% alcohol or Povidone-iodine.
• Anti tetanus immunization should be inoculated when necessary.
• Antimicrobials should be prescribed if necessary to control bacterial infection.
• Wound dressing could be done to prevent bacterial infection.
• If suturing is indicated, it should be done after infiltration of the wound/s with RIG.

The situation of rabies in Sri Lanka in a nutshell

In Sri Lanka, transmission of rabies takes place mainly via the domestic cycle. Averagely 20 human deaths per year were reported in Sri Lanka in last years. Many important rabies preventive activities are currently working on society in order to minimize this condition. Vaccination of dogs, habitat control by removal of garbage sites, and continuous monitoring and evaluation are prominent among them.

References 

Greenwood, D., Slack, R. C., Barer, M. R., & Irving, W. L. (2012). Medical Microbiology E-Book: A Guide to Microbial Infections: Pathogenesis, Immunity, Laboratory Diagnosis and Control. With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access. Elsevier Health Sciences pp.596-601

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With the name of “microbes”, very first things that come into our mind are “food spoilages, harmful, disease causing, dangerous and hazardous”. But not all the microbes are that kind. Many microbes are beneficial. Some are used in industrial purposes; some are used in food making, enzyme production, antibiotic production, and there are some microbes that live within the human digestive system which are beneficial to our body; called “probiotics”.
The term “probiotics” was first used by Lilly and Stillwell in 1965, to describe beneficial microorganisms and different substances produced by them that stimulate the growth of another, as the opposite of “antibiotics”.
Probiotics are living microbes that beneficially affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance and help to maintain a healthy gut. This is done by different substances that are produced by microorganisms. Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria, Lactococci bacterial species (Lactic acid bacteria) and yeast are some microbes that are commonly used as probiotics.
Normally we get probiotics into our body with food that we take, like yogurt, cheese etc. These probiotics generate a symbiotic association with the human digestive system that the human digestive system provides a surface for colonizing probiotics, and probiotics provide many different kinds of benefits to the human body.

Probiotics adherence to the intestinal epithelial cell lining and act as a shield to protect receptor sites from pathogenic bacteria, enterotoxinogenic pathogens. Binding of probiotic bacteria to the intestinal tract surface is providing a protection from pathogenic bacterial cells. Probiotics has the ability to stabilize the intestinal microflora.
Probiotics produce different substances that are beneficial to human body functions. Some lactic acid bacteria produce substances that increase the content of vitamin B complex in fermented foods. Some probiotics have the ability to improve the digestibility or absolute amounts of some dietary nutrients in diets. Some lactic acid bacteria are used as a treatment for lactose intolerance in humans. Lactose intolerance is a medical condition that is difficult to digest lactose within the digestive system due to low levels of the β galactosidase enzyme ( lactase enzyme), resulting in bloating, flatulence and abdominal pains. Lactase enzymes produced by probiotics like Lactobacilli have the ability to break down lactose into glucose and galactose and make a relief for lactose intolerance.

Lactobacillus GG is the most studied probiotic organism in human digestive system and it has proven that Lactobacillus GG has the ability to decrease the toxin level produced by Clostridium difficile and control diarrhea cause by Clostridium difficile.
Enzymes produced by probiotics play a major role in the human digestive system. Enzymatic hydrolysis has been shown to enhance the bioavailability of proteins and fat in diets that we have taken. Bacterial proteases produced by probiotic bacteria have the ability to increase the production of free amino acids and this production is beneficial when the host has a deficiency in endogenous protease production.
Most of the time, the first allergic reaction in humans may be the allergic reactions in milk fed infants due to inability to digest milk proteins by casein enzyme. Probiotics like Lactobacillus GG and other Lactobacilli have the ability to degrade milk proteins into smaller peptides and amino acids and facilitate protein digestion in infants and prevent allergic reactions.
Researchers have proven that the probiotics have the ability to prevent alcohol induced liver damage and significant reduction in the incidence of colon tumors in the human body. Not only that, probiotics and their symbiotic associations are important in immune modulation, lowering serum cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, shortening rotavirus diarrhea, reduction of bladder cancer.
Now we can understand that probiotics play a major role within our body that helps to maintain body functions. But, it is not suitable to take probiotics by people with immune system problems, people who are critically ill and people who have had surgery.
We can get probiotics with dietary supplements and with food sources specially yogurts that provide Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, and food sources Kefir, some cheeses, miso, kombucha , pickles etc.
It is important to take enough probiotics with our meals to maintain a healthy gut since colonization of probiotics within the digestive system act as a protective army against harmful microorganisms and maintain good health condition within our body as a natural protective mechanism.

References:
Barry R. Goldin, (1998), “Health benefits of probiotics”, British Journal of Nutrition, 80, Suppl. 2, S203-S207

David R. Snydman, The Safety of Probiotics, https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/46/Supplement_2/S104/276784 by guest on 21 January 2021

S. Salminen et al., (1999), “Probiotics: how should they be defined? ”, Trends in Food Science & Technology 10 107-110

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Featured image:
https://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/science-community-defends-effectiveness-of-probiotics/

Figure 1:
https://blog.mercy.com/probiotics-vs-prebiotics/

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https://www.saccosystem.com/cat-2/en/products-and-solutions-for-the-food-industry/26/probiotics-for-the-food-industry/124/

Microorganisms and pressure both have a huge everlasting relationship from the past time. In modern day, people are trying to seek more and more methods to overcome the problem which rose with the food security. In that process, pressure leads a main role with the showing many sub pathways to new methods of food preservation. Pressure dependent food processing methods are a more dominant way of food preservation in modern society .This article is mainly focused on the scientific background which lies on the pressure treated food. There is a high potential to produce high quality food by using the high hydrostatic pressure. That has a great impact on the microbiological safe and extended shelf-life of the food. Bacterial spores are a more dominant and resistant group which cannot be inactivated by pressure only. For low acid foods, combination treatments which use both high heat and pressure have been proposed as a method of preservation. Viruses and their infectivity can be abolished without destroying their ability to elicit antibodies.

The idea of using high pressure in food preservation is not a new thing to the world. In 1899, Hite was reported as the first person who used it as a food preservation method. He reported that milk can be kept sweet for longer with a pressure treatment. Hite and his group (1914) also reported the preservation ability of high pressure on the fruits too. But it was not successful with the vegetables as fruits. He thought that fruits and fruit based juices responded well to the high pressure because yeasts and other organisms having most to do with decomposition are very susceptible for the high pressure. But with the spore forming bacteria these methods were gone in different uncontrollable pathways.
Now let’s move into the real scientific things happening to the microorganisms with the pressure. This mainly affects the biological and chemical changes of the microorganism cell. The cell wall is less affected by high pressure than the membrane. Generally, no morphological changes can be observed in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes by observation under a light microscope due to pressure gradient. In case of the volume capacity, high pressure treatments favours biochemical reactions that leads to volume decrease while it can retard reactions which leads to expansion of cell volume. Studies carried out on volume changes in proteins have shown that the main targets of the pressure are hydrophobic interactions which stabilizes the α-helical and β-pleated sheet forms of protein, and is not significantly influenced by pressure. That means enzymes have a little bit of capability to withstand high pressure. With that case, auto lysing fruits and vegetables do not respond much more with the high-pressure treatments. A high-pressure treatment may not always deal with complete inactivation of microbial activity. They may inure a proportion of the population. Again, the recovery of the injured cells will depend on the conditions after treatment. Compounds such as salt (sodium chloride) added to the plating media which can act as a selective agent and drop the regeneration of injured cells.

When we are dealing with the endospores, we have to do a different type of pressure based preservation method. Bacterial endospores can be extremely resistant to high pressure. They can survive under physical treatments such as irradiation and heat as well. They can tolerate the pressure treatments above the 1000Mpa too. Applying two different pressure levels in different stages is the most suitable method to overcome this problem. In first pressure treatment would germinate the spores while second one leads to destruction of germinated spores. This process could be done repeated several times and that leads to new technique called pressure cycling. Nucleic acids are relatively can tolerate high pressure and with the hydrogen bonds, it is more stable with the high pressure. However, the enzyme mediated steps Pressure treated fruit jams and sauces became first commercially available product in japan. With the treatment of jam in 400 MPa for up to 5 min at room temperature, a new product was established. It showed a significant reduction in microbe count. That showed the path for many more high pressurized food types to the market. Pressure treated orange and grapefruit juices were available in France in early 1994.

Pressure treatment in vegetables was a great problem because it is very sensitive to high pH and provides space for more pathogenic spore producing bacteria. However the most successful pressure treated food in the USA was guacamole. The taste between the pressurized ones and heat treated ones has a significant difference and more people adhere to the pressure treated guacamole. Sliced cooked ham and other meat products in flexible pouches can be successfully treated with the high pressure methods. The shelf life of the ham can be kept for 60days with this technique under chilling storage. High pressure treatment is the final step after the packaging process. That guarantees an addition safe from pathogenic microbes to food. Another successful event of pressure based preservation is production of oyster based food. The initial aim of this method regarding oysters is eliminating Vibrio spp. from the food. But some strains can be survived under high pressure also. But reduction of the amount of pathogens made this a better method. With the year by year, new products were introduced to the market. Complete meal kits have recently been launched in the USA with the help of pressure treatment. It is more likely that the range of added –value, high quality pressure treated food will rapidly expand within the next few years.

References –
Microbiology of pressure-treated foods M.F. Patterson
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland and Queen’s University, Belfast, UK
2004/0950: received 16 August 2004, revised and accepted 10 December 2004
https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2005.02564

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Featured image-
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/what-is-a-pressure-cooker/
Figure 1-
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-microbiology/chapter/physical-antimicrobial-control/
Figure 2-
https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2016/may/columns/processing-oysters-high-pressure-processing
Figure3-
https://www.packworld.com/home/blog/13371942/high-pressure-processing-and-packaging-continues-to-grow

Humans are one of the carnivore animals in the animal kingdom. They are frequently searching for nutrition to survive their life on the earth. Protein is the main energy compound in the human body. Then their main protein resources are meat and fish. Meat is shown to play a huge role for the human protein uptake. Indigenous people were used to hunting for their proteins during the prehistoric era. Humans had farmed animals before the industrial revolution. They fulfilled their protein necessary from farmed animals’ meat. They are interested in food security because of surplus meat products. They need methods to protect their surplus meat. They had learnt that microbial and physical actions can be caused to spoil meat. After harvesting meat, they need proper methods to keep their protein deposits. Meat has high nutritional value and it may be attacked by microorganisms easily. These causes are resulting in reduction in the quality of the meat product and its nutritional value too.
Microbial spoilage of meat occurs quickly as compared to other food products. Approximately 25% of world’s food produced post-harvest of post slaughter is lost to microbial degradation of food alone. Meat is an ideal culture medium for many organisms because it is high in moisture, rich in nitrogenous content and various degrees of complexity and plentiful of minerals and accessory growth factors. The breakdown of fat, carbohydrates, protein of meat impart off odors, off flavors and slime formation. Most spoilage microorganisms come externally to contaminate. Then there are two types of microorganisms according to their infections, such as some are accessed through infection of the living animals (endogenous). Examples are Anthrax, brucellosis caused agents, others are accessed by contamination of the meat post-mortem (exogenous). Bacteremia and sources and nature of external contaminants are main causes for exogenous spoilage. Meat is the first-choice animal protein for humans and consumption of meat is continuously increasing worldwide. The annual per capita consumption increased by 2.6 folded in 2000 and will increase by 3.7 folded by 2030 compared to that of the 1960s. On the other hand, the rich nutrient matrix meat is subject to various types of spoilage depending on handling and storage conditions.
There is an equilibrium between invasion of the tissues and removal of the invading organisms such that the tissues of healthy animals are normally free from bacteria. Meat can be contaminated by bacteria that persists on powered tools (air-driven knives) used in carcass dressing. External contamination of the meat is a containing possibility from the moment of bleeding until consumption. In the abattoir itself there are a large number of potential sources of infection by microorganisms, such as air-borne contamination, instruments used in dressing (hooks, knives, saws), aqueous sources and soil adhering etc.
Some meat spoilage microorganisms may be shown specific characters and they are symptoms too. Bacteria in aerobic conditions are shown slime on meat surplus, discoloration, colonies and off odors. Yeats are shown yeast slime, discoloration, off-odors and tastes, fat decompositions. Molds are presented with surface stickiness and whiskers, discoloration, odors and fat decomposition. Bacteria in anaerobic conditions are shown gas production and sourcing.

There are some factors affecting the meat spoilage such as temperature, moisture, pH, oxidation-reduction potential, atmosphere and high pressure. The most important single factor governing microbial growth is temperature. The higher the temperature the greater is the rate of growth. Many meat microorganisms will grow to some extent at all temperatures from below 0̊ C to above 65̊ C, but for a given organism, vigorous growth occurs in a more limited temperature range. Spoilage organisms in three categories. Psychrophiles (-2̊ C and 7̊ C), Mesophiles (10-40̊ C) and Thermophiles (43-66̊ C). After temperature the availability of moisture is perhaps the most important requirement for microbial growth on meat, although some types of bacteria may remain dormant for lengthy periods at low moisture levels, and spores resist destruction by dry heat more than by moist heat. The availability of moisture is complementary to that of osmotic pressure, which is a function of the concentration of soluble, dialyzable substances (salts, carbohydrates) in the aqueous medium. High solute concentrations tend to inhibit growth. Molds and yeasts tolerate higher osmotic pressures than bacteria.
pH of meat will be determined by the amount of lactic acid produced from glycogen during anaerobic glycolysis and this will be curtailed if glycogen is depleted by fatigue, inanition or fear in the animal before slaughter. Most bacteria grow optimally at above pH 7, and not well below pH 4 or above pH 9. Immediately after death, whilst temperature and pH are still high, it would be expected that the dangers of proliferation of and spoilage by anaerobes would be great. That such does not generally occur appears to be due to the level of the oxidation-reduction potential which usually does not fall for some time. A major grouping of microorganisms can be made on the basis of the oxygen tension which they need or can be made to tolerate aerobes, anaerobe and facultative. The exposed surfaces of fresh meat at chill temperatures would normally support the growth of aerobes such as members of the genera Pseudomonas. The degree of pressure inactivation is affected by the type of microorganisms, the pressure applied, the duration and temperature of the applied process and pH of the medium. The inactivation of microorganisms by high pressure appears to be due to intracellular damage. There is considerable variation in susceptibility to pressure between the types of microorganism found in meat.
There are prophylaxis methods to prevent spoilage of meat such hygiene, biological control, antibiotics and ionizing radiation. For controlling enzymatic, oxidative and microbial spoilage, low temperature storage and chemical techniques are the most common in the industry today. It is essential to store the meat at lower than 4°C immediately after slaughtering and during transport and storage as it is critical for meat hygiene, safety, shelf life, appearance and eating quality. Although, microbial and enzymatic spoilage can be stopped or minimized at lower temperature. However, oxidative spoilage cannot be prevented by freezing. A combination of chemical additives such as Tertiary Butyl Hydroxy Quinine (TBHQ) and ascorbic acid can be most effective for controlling spoilage of meat and meat products.

References:
Iulietto, M., Sechi, P., Borgogni, E. and Cenci-Goga, B., 2015. Meat Spoilage: A Critical Review of a Neglected Alteration Due to Ropy Slime Producing Bacteria. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 14(3), p.4011.

GILL, C., 1983. Meat Spoilage and Evaluation of the Potential Storage Life of Fresh Meat. Journal of Food Protection, 46(5), pp.444-452.

Mutwakil, 2011. Meat Spoilage Mechanisms and Preservation Techniques: A Critical Review. American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 6(4), pp.486-510.

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Figure 01
https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/rotten-meat

Figure 02
https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/fridge-freezer-technologies/

Approximately 14,000 different mushroom species have been discovered by mycologists around the world. They are divided into several different genera. Many edible and inedible species are found in each genus, and many of them look similar. Only a few of the 70-80 poisonous mushroom species are potentially lethal when consumed. Toxins known as illudins are found in poisonous mushrooms and cause gastrointestinal symptoms. It is safe to touch the mushroom. To damage you, the unsafe toxins in mushrooms must be eaten. Inhaling mushroom spores does not usually result in death. Since mushroom spores are everywhere, everybody is constantly inhaling them. These spores can cause allergies in sensitive people.
Mistaking a mushroom for another has serious implications. As a result, it’s crucial that they are correctly identified. We can use a mushroom guide to identify them. Pictures of poisonous mushrooms in the guide are useful. The odor of poisonous mushrooms is typically unpleasant and acrid. A few distinguishing features can assist you in determining whether or not it is poisonous. And those traits are not found in edible species. They are a positive sign that you can leave the mushroom alone if you recognize them. White-gilled mushrooms are often harmful. Those with a ring or annulus around the stalk, as well as those with a sack-like base (bulging section) at the bottom of the stem known as a volva, are also poisonous. Rings are commonly wrapped around the stem just below the cap. The volva is mostly found underground. The existence of a volva, particularly one with a ring around it, is generally an indication of a poisonous species. Red-stemmed or red-capped mushrooms are either poisonous or highly hallucinogenic. Amanita muscaria is the most well-known red-colored mushroom. The fungus Podostroma cornu-damae is a rare Asian species. Trichothecene mycotoxins are found in its red fruiting bodies, which can cause multiple organ failure.

Never consume a mushroom unless you are absolutely sure it is safe to eat. The destroying angels (Amanita species) are white mushrooms. These extremely toxic fungi match with edible button and meadow mushrooms in appearance. The Amanita species, especially death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides), are the most common dangerous mushrooms. It is to account for the majority of human deaths caused by mushroom consumption. It looks a lot like those edible mushrooms. Heat-stable amatoxins are found in the death cap mushroom and the lethal dapperling (Lepiota brunneoincarnata) mushrooms. Accidental ingestion of deadly dapperling causes serious liver toxicity, which can be fatal if treatment is not received immediately.
Conocybe filaris contains the same mycotoxins as the death cap mushroom, and eating it can be deadly. And also Webcaps (Cortinarius species) and Autumn Skullcap (Galerina marginata) are lethal. In addition, certain mushrooms, such as those belonging to the genus Psilocybe, may cause hallucinations and other brain effects, but none of these are thought to be long-term.
Poisoning symptoms include stomach pain, violent abdominal pain, peeling skin, low blood pressure, liver necrosis, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea, which cause rapid loss of fluid from the tissues and extreme thirst, as well as acute kidney failure and death if left untreated.

References:
Menser, G. P. (1977) Hallucinogenic and poisonous mushroom: Field guide RONIN Publishing, Inc., Oakland.
https://www.planetdeadly.com/nature/poisonous-mushrooms
https://www.britannica.com/list/7-of-the-worlds-most-poisonous-mushrooms
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/fungi-poisoning

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Oil spills are a major problem in present times which occur mainly in marine environments. The leaks of oil pipes which have built under the ocean break open or the leaks from ships create a catastrophic environmental pollution in marine ecosystems. There is no foolproof way to remove oil from the open ocean. These oil spills are extremely harmful as the chemicals made up of are toxic. So they create a heap of troubles. Mainly those oil spills float on top of the water and thus the animals who inhabit the sea surface such as birds, filter feeders and otters are more vulnerable. Those can coat the animal’s feathers and fur, leaving them unable to fly or swim. Eventually the oil gets sink and affects the rest of the marine life below it. The small and large fish can consume the oil droplets and they could have cancer like diseases. Thus by consumption of fish and seafood, humans also could have sicknesses by accumulating petroleum oil in the bodies. This destroys the ecosystem balance and food chains that exist within it. However not only the oil spill damages the ecosystem, but also the cleanup mechanisms do even more damage. If the chemical cleanup is done, it requires more chemicals to be put into the oil and break it up and make it easier to remove. So then the amount of chemicals seeping into the ocean is doubled at the end.
Therefore, as a solution for that, scientists have proposed a bioremediation method. Using bacteria for cleaning up oil. They have discovered a rod shaped bacteria that consume oil for energy. Bioremediation is an important process that uses decomposers and green plants or their enzymes to improve the condition of polluted or contaminated environments. To remove the oil spills, Alcanivorax bacteria and Methylocella silvestris can be used. Alcanivorax borkumensis is an alkane degrading marine bacteria which naturally propagates and becomes predominant in crude-oil-containing seawater when nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients are supplemented. Methylocella silvestris is a bacteria of rod shape. These microbes help to clean the oil spills and recover the marine environments.

It was the deep water horizon oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 that instigated the scientists to seek refuge in bioremediation. It involved leakage of over 4.2 million barrels of oil that endangered many of the marine species and ecosystems extending from tidal marshes to the floor of the deep sea. The conventional methods like mechanical cleaning, use of chemicals to burn spoiled petroleum to overcome it. This causes lots of damage to the environment. So the scientists pay their attention to bioremediation techniques

Reference:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/natural-disasters/microbes-to-fight-oil-spillage-in-oceans-indian-scientists-devise-new-technology-73828

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Figure 01:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_spill_in_San_Francisco_bay.jpg#mw-jump-to-license
Figure 02:
https://scienceofhealthy.com/bioremediation-of-oil-spills/

Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms which are invisible to the naked eye. Some of them are bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and protozoa. In water microbiology mainly consider microbes used in water purification, remediation and treatment. The nano scales are very tiny and measured by nanometers(10−9 m). Nanotechnology used to research and build innovations on the scale of atoms and molecules.

The lotus effect is a very interesting natural example for the nano effect. The lotus leaves show ultra hydrophobic effect due to nanoscopic architecture on the surface which decreases the adhesion nature of water to the leaf surface.

The World Health Organization (WHO) shows that around 1.40 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water and also there are about 9300 deaths per day due to waterborne diseases in 2016. Many pathogens are antibiotic resistant and so it’s very hard to remove them from contaminated water. So efficient pathogen detection methods are needed to detect them easily and quickly. There are various methods used in waste water purification. The current water purification methods are trickling filters, rotating biological contactors which are used in biofilms. And also there is activated sludge method and water treatments with sedimentation, filtration and chlorination. The current sewage and industrial waste water purification methods are effective. But nanotechnology facilitates the process and increases efficiency of the process. The bioactive nanoparticles act as more effective alternatives for chlorine. So here we talk about a few nanotechnological uses in water microbiology.

Nanomembranes increase efficiency of waste water filtration through thin layered materials which are allowed to pass water through it while trapping salts, bacteria, viruses and metals in the membrane.

And also the high microbial loads at biofilms can form foul in normal water filters and it may decrease the quality of drinking water. Nanotechnology is the better solution for the biofouling. There are nano biocides like metal nanoparticles and nanomaterials have been successfully used with nanofibres. Actually the nano biocides are like bacteriocins which decrease bacterial density, but here used nanotechnological nanomaterials, not chemicals or other methods. Such nano biocides show good antimicrobial activity, efficient purification and it keeps water stability.

In water nanomicrobiology the highly specific and highly adsorption surfaces which can be used in water purification and remediation. They are carbon based surfaces (CNTs) and metal based surfaces (FeO, TiO2, Ag, Al). These surfaces are made by nanotechnology which can remove inorganic, organic contaminants and bacteria in wastewater. As an example the monodispersed nanosilver bioconjugate particles are produced by mycelium of fungi, Rhizopus oryzae. It shows high antimicrobial activity. Such specific methods can be influenced by the drastic decrease of microbial population like E. coli and other coliform bacterias. And also the nano-Ag on polymeric membranes can enhance the oxidation process and can decrease the unpleasant smells (biofouling).

Nanocatalysts are also used to increase the catalytic activity in water treatment. Because such nanocatalysts have higher surface area and its properties depend on shape. It increases the degradation of contaminants. For example the semiconductor materials are used as the catalytic nanoparticles.

These all nanomaterials are innovated, produced and demonstrated in laboratories according to the safety standards before releasing. The long term risk assessment of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) is very important while applying nanotechnology to freshwater, wastewater or groundwater purification or treatment. These nanomaterials can be re-used or recycled to reduce the cost. Nanotechnology can improve handling water contaminations and purification. Nanotechnology based approaches are more easier, efficient than bulk methods, time consuming, durable, eco friendly and very interesting.

References:
https://www.researchgate.net › 2878…Web results (PDF) Nanotechnology in waste water treatment … – ResearchGate
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7148861/

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Featured image:
https://www.properla.co.uk/lotus-effect/
Figure 1:
https://www.azonano.com/amp/article.aspx?ArticleID=3170
Figure 2:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-17061-5_17
Figure 3:
https://www.azonano.com/amp/article.aspx?ArticleID=983

Plastic particles less than 5mm are called microplastics. Microplastics are added to the household drainage from personal care products such as toothpaste, cosmetics, clothing micro fibres etc. It is estimated that around 2 million microplastic particles can be discharged into an average wastewater treatment plant from 400,000 houses just in a day. So, the amount of microplastics added to the environment is enormous. Man made products incorporated into natural ecosystems always cause novel consequences. When the products are ultra-fine particles, it is really challenging for the scientists to discover the changes occurring in the atmosphere by the addition of those particles. Effects caused by the addition of an enormous amount of ultra-fine microplastic to the environment are not fully discovered. But Interaction of these microparticles with microorganisms are recently studied and some unwilling, negative consequences are being revealed by several scientists.
Jake Bowley and colleagues have described some criteria about how antimicrobial resistance of bacteria is increased by forming interactions with microplastics made of polyethylene and polypropylene. Microplastics easily resemble the structure and size of the naturally occurring components that bacteria would adhere with. Since, the naturally occurring particles are not rich in the wastewater, proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the wastewater was balanced with wastewater treatments. But the proliferation of these pathogenic bacteria is rapidly increased because of the microplastics. Unfortunately, most of the water treatment plants have no process of removing the microplastics. So, they are being received by the natural waterways when the treated water is released.
Bacteria in the wastewater accidentally attach with the microplastics and secrete polysaccharides which form a slimy layer (biofilm) on the microplastic. Because of this layer formation, more bacteria will be attracted to the microplastics. Bacteria in the biofilm gain 30 times greater resistance to antibiotics than the original free bacteria. Wastewater has an enormous number of pathogenic bacteria. So that Proliferation rate and resistance of pathogenic bacteria will increase in the presence of microplastics in the wastewater. This will cause adverse effects in the environment in many ways.
Biodiversity in the Waterways will be affected with the highly increased number of pathogens. Fish and other edible species in the water ways might get infected with these pathogens. By consuming the affected water or fish, the pathogens will reach the digestive tract of humans. These pathogenic bacteria would replace the place of microorganisms which help the cells of the digestive tract. This will affect the function of the digestive tract and eventually will cause human health issues.

Interaction of pathogenic microorganisms with microplastics will enable the long distant transport of the pathogens while acting as a vector in water. Also, will pose longer retention time with the increasing antimicrobial resistant and impacting food webs. Even with very few studies made on this crisis scientists have found many harmful effects of microplastics. Still there are more to discover the interactions of microplastics. Some of the studies say that microorganisms can degrade the microplastics which will lead in a positive impact on the environment. But this would not wipe away all the microplastics in the environment in a considerable brief period. Because the released microparticles into the environment are enormous. So, it is our responsibility to reduce the use of plastics and replace it with environmentally friendly, Bio degradative materials.

References:
Dung NgocPhamLeroneClarkMengyanLi Microplastics as hubs enriching antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pathogens in municipal activated sludge. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, United State
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bugbitten/2021/03/05/microplastics-and-microbes-have-we-created-a-new-disease-vector/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210319183936.htm
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We are so concerned about the cleanliness of our bodies. But did you know that after all cleansing processes with soap, shampoo and hand sanitizer we are mostly microbes. The human body is made up with about 10 trillion cells. But we are holding 100 trillion microbes on and inside our body. This is called the human microbiome. Because of their small size, however, microbiomes make up only about 1-3% of the body’s mass.

But we are not born with all of these microbes. There is a sterile environment in the mother’s womb but we get our first bacteria before we are even born. When the baby passes through the vaginal cavity they ingest certain bacteria from the mother’s microbiome. Furthermore lots of microbes are introduced for a new born baby with breast milk as well as from other people who are closely in contact with the baby. As we cuddle, kiss and play in the dirt eventually thousands of species of bacteria will enter our body making it one of the most complex ecosystems in the world.

These microbes inhabit all parts of our body that are exposed to the environment, such as the mouth, skin, vagina, airways and gut. Normally, when people think of microorganisms in the body, they think of pathogens. Because of that reason researches were focused on harmful bacteria for a long time and human friendly, beneficial bacteria were ignored. Although the first experiment on the microbiome was conducted as early as the 1680s by the scientist “Antonie von Leewenhoek”, who found striking differences between his own fecal and oral microbial population.

Without the trillions of microbes we share our body with, we would struggle to break down essential nutrients in our intestines. Also these microbes help to regulate our immune system, protect against other bacteria that cause disease, and produce vitamins including B3, B6, B12, riboflavin and thiamine, and Vitamin K, which is needed for blood coagulation. Our immune system acts between states of aggression and tolerance. To balance these two status, help of the microbiome is truly needed. The microbiome teaches the immune system which cells to fight and which cells to leave alone. With the absence of these bacteria, our body overreacts on all kinds of cellular material we pick up resulting in asthma and allergies.

Microbes living on our skin produce chemicals which have the ability to prevent transient pathogens from colonizing the skin or they stimulate the skin’s immune system to fight against pathogens. Some skin bacteria prefer to live in warm, dark places on the body, reacting to skin oils and sweat, producing chemicals which give a particular aroma to the human body.
The food we eat has an effect on our gut microbiome based on the ability of microbes to use energy from food. The consumption of high-fat products reduces the total volume of the intestinal microbiome population and induces the growth of bacteria that support a fast fat deposition. Also the gut microbiome tells us when to eat. The bacteria living in our stomach, named Helicobacter pylori, tells us when we are hungry or full. Therefore any damage to the natural gut microbiome is identified as a cause for obesity.

Considering all these beneficial facts, it is very important to protect our microbiome for a healthy life. The biggest threat to the microbiome was and still is the widespread use of antibiotics. Antibiotics do not recognize the difference between the good and the bad bacteria. Although antibiotics have saved many lives, some people are using them without any precaution or as prophylaxis. To protect and improve your microbiome avoids the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials. And make sure to eat a balanced diet with vegetables, fermented foods and probiotic products. Most importantly play in the dirt a little more often and ensure that you have a happy and healthy microbiome.

References:
https://www.mymicrobiome.info/10-facts-about-the-microbiome.html
https://depts.washington.edu/ceeh/downloads/FF_Microbiome.pdf
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https://rhapsodyinwords.com/2017/01/23/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-most-influential-organ-in-your-body/
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https://rootedforlife.wordpress.com/tag/let-your-children-play/

• Introduction
  MALDI-TOF (Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight) is a powerful analytical mass spectrometry technique that has been successfully introduced in clinical laboratories initially as an identification tool about ten years ago. Since then, MALDI-TOF has been widely used in routine laboratory practice due to its rapid (in about 2 min) and accurate identification of pathogens, especially for the identification of microorganisms for medical diagnosis.
• MALDI-TOF MS overview
  MS is used to detect the m/z ratio and MALDI-TOF MS provides a rapid, accurate and sensitive spectra of the bio-analytes within a sample. MALDI is an ionization technique in which a matrix absorbs energy from ultraviolet lasers to create ions from large molecules with minimal fragmentation. The m/z ratio can be determined by the TOF of the ions which the detector measures TOF of ions to calculate masses of ions.

In the above methodology, the sample is co-crystallized with the matrix on the sample target and to be desorbed and ionized by the MALDI ion source (e.g. ultraviolet laser). The ion molecules, including the microbial peptides/proteins, are accelerated by the electric field into the TOF analyzer. All the ions are separated by TOF in accordance with the m/z ratio and a mass spectrum.

The α-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (HCCA) and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid are MALDI matrices used for various microbial analysis. For microorganism identification, positively charged peptides/proteins with a molecular weight between 2000 and 20,000 m/z are used. The sequence and size of ribosomal proteins are highly conserved among different bacterial species, and therefore be used to identify individual types of bacteria. Individual mass peaks are used for microorganism identification and provide valuable information for the fingerprinting of bacteria. To enable rapid, accurate, easy and reliable microorganism identification, the new MS system was designed with a highly automatic operational workflow and analysis process.

• Principles of MALDI-TOF
  Maldi is a soft ionization technique used in mass spectrometry, allowing the analysis of biomolecules such as DNA, proteins, peptides & sugar or polymers such as dendrimers and macromolecules. It is a three steps method.
  The sample is mixed with a suitable matrix & applied to a metal plate.
  A pulsed laser irradiates a sample triggering desorption of matrix material.
  Ionization of analyte molecules
• Every minute counts to a life
  Bruker‘s MALDI Sepsityper enables identification of gram negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria and yeast from positive blood cultures within 30 minutes.
  Hence, this is a rapid method to Investigate Bacteremia and Septicemia. MALDI Sepsityper Septicemias enables faster results, which physicians can act upon to manage bloodstream infections, engage in the fight against resistance, and improve patient outcomes.
• What are the advantages of MALDI-TOF MS?
  The use of MALDI-TOF MS in the medical lab reduces the time between specimen collection and diagnosis. Also, pre-examination processing of organisms for analysis by MALDI-TOF MS is technically simple and reproducible. Another benefit of this technology is accuracy.

The improved performance of MALDI-TOF MS over traditional methods seems to have contributed to an increase in the reporting of some relatively rare species. For example, reporting of skin and peri-prosthetic joint infections due to Staphylococcus lugdunensis, a member of the coagulase- negative staphylococci, appears to have increased due to the use of MALDI-TOF MS. This has also been the case of urinary tract infections caused by Aerococcus urinae and other rare uropathogens. Aerococcus urinae is a catalase negative, Gram-positive cocci that often forms pairs, chains, or triads and looks similar to streptococci not only on gram stain but also when grown on blood-agar. Further, biochemical methods are frequently unable to discriminate Aerococcus species from each other or other Gram-positive bacteria. Given the difficulty in accurately identifying A. urinae and the fact that it is a relatively uncommon cause of urinary tract infections, it is not surprising that urinary tract infections caused by A. urinae appear to have been under-reported prior to the use of MALDI-TOF MS.

The speed with which MALDI-TOF MS can identify microorganisms helps to quickly guide treatment decisions, which is especially critical when the infecting pathogen is unexpected. Identification of anaerobes and yeast provide additional examples of the benefits of MALDI-TOF MS in terms of improving the turnaround time. Anaerobic organisms typically have slow doubling times. They are also not very biochemically active and often require a large amount of biomass for definitive identification using biochemical methods. Thus, the length of time it takes to get to a final identification using traditional methods is largely spent on growing the organism, not on performing analytical testing. This can delay the time to diagnosis significantly. For yeasts, faster identification can significantly improve clinical outcomes.

• Limitations
  For organisms commonly encountered in the clinical laboratory, MALDI-TOF MS can accurately identify most closely related species. However, there are some exceptions. The inability to discriminate between related species can be due to the inherent similarity of the organisms themselves. For inherently similar organisms, it is common to report to the group, complex or genus level. In cases where differentiation to the species level is clinically necessary, supplemental testing should be performed.

In conclusion, the introduction of MALDI-TOF MS into the clinical laboratory has brought more timely and accurate identification of microorganisms with subsequent improvement in diagnosis and reduction in the time to appropriate therapy. As these platforms continue to improve and become more widely available, the practice of clinical microbiology will be transformed.

References:
Ying Li, Mingzhu Shan, Zuobin Zhu, Xuhua Mao, Mingju Yan, Ying Chen, Qiuju Zhu, Hongchun Li and Bing Gu (2019), Application of MALDI-TOF MS to rapid identification of anaerobic bacteria, BMC Infectious Diseases (https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-019-4584-0) accessed date – 27th March, 2021

Fernando Cobo, (27th September,2013), Application of MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in Clinical Virology, Open Virol J (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3821086/)
accessed date – 27th March, 2021

MALDI-TOF Advantages and Disadvantages, Published: 5th Sep 2017 in Health (https://www.ukessays.com/essays/health/malditof-advantages-disadvantages- 3265.php)
accessed date – 27th March, 2021

• Image courtesy
  Featured image:
  MALDI-TOF MS methodology: Image is from the article of Current status of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in clinical microbiology from the Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, Volume 27, Issue 2, April 2019, Pages 404-414
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30987712/
  accessed date – 27th March, 2021

Imagination of life beyond earth is impossible for us as humans. The main reason is the lack of suitable conditions for human survival due to the presence of extreme environmental conditions in other planets as examined so far by scientists. Even in past studies on earth believed that in extreme environments life is not possible at all. The reason is living organisms tend to be sensitive to drastic environmental changes such as changes in temperature, pressure, drought, salinity, pH. The exceeding of optimum ranges causes disruption in crucial interactions of biomolecules which keep them folded and functional, occurs quickly destroying cellular integrity[1]. However recent studies have shown the prediction about extreme environments on earth was wrong. What’s this extreme environment? Is the environment where the environmental conditions are too low or above from the optimum that is resistant for the survival of biosphere (living organisms). Extreme environmental conditions are mainly in two types as physical and geochemical extremes. Physical extremes are physical conditions such as temperature, irradiation, pressure meanwhile geochemical extremes are such as pH, desiccation, salinity, redox potential. Humans and non extreme organisms evolved to a specific narrow range of environmental conditions. The invention of the ability of microorganisms to thrive in extreme environments expanded the range of habitats on earth by opening a new dimension of microbiology towards astrobiology. Astrobiology is a field of studying the origin of life, life in extraterrestrial habitats, disperse of life in the universe. The reason is that even the earth’s early life consisted of extreme conditions which are similar to that of environments found in outside planets such as Mars, Venus. According to the phylogenetic analysis the most ancestral species is believed to be an anaerobic hyperthermophile. Hydrothermal environments are considered as locals of origin of life since the environment provides energy, carbon sources, electron acceptors, and a variety of inorganic surfaces suitable for the formation of biopolymers. Hydrothermal environments are targets for the origins of life in other planets within the solar system and beyond.

The organisms in extreme environments are classified as thermophiles, hyperthermophiles, psychrophiles, acidophiles, alkaliphiles, halophiles, piezophiles. The significance of these organisms is not only they live in extremes but often they require extreme conditions for survival. Thermophiles are capable of living in the temperature range of 45°C – 80°C while hyperthermophiles tolerate the temperatures above 80°C. These kinds of species are found in geothermally heated areas on earth like deep sea hydrothermal vents. Acidophiles live in very lower pH ranges that grow optimally at pH values of 2.0 [3] This is an interesting feature as the acidity is caused as a result of metabolism of the organism and not a condition imposed by the system. Alkaliphiles are microorganisms that grow optimally at pH values above 9.0, often with pH optima around 10.0, while showing little or no growth at near neutral pH values [4]. Psychrophiles are microorganisms that grow at or below 0 optimum growth at 15 upper limit of 20 [2] variety of environments stratosphere to the deep sea. Halophiles are organisms that grow in elevated salt concentrations such as from 10% to saturated sodium chloride concentrations and even in salt crystals.[5] The environments where halophilic microorganisms are found include aquatic habitats of varying salinity, salt marshes, surface salt lakes, subterranean salt lakes, and some other places [6]. Piezophiles are microorganisms that have adapted to high-pressure environments and can grow more easily under high hydrostatic pressure conditions than at atmospheric pressure [7]. Piezophiles are widespread in the seafloor and deep within the Earth’s crust.

The unique metabolic and cellular adaptations are expressed in these types of organisms to fit with their unique habitats. The life external to the earth is searched via this same potential of microbes to tolerate extreme features as shock pressure, irradiation, high temperature variations etc. often experienced in ejection from one planet to find habitable areas of planets in the universe.

References:
Horikoshi, K.; Grant, W.D. Extremophiles: Microbial Life in Extreme Environments; Wiley-Liss: New York, NY, USA, 1998.
Rothschild, L. Extremophiles: Defining the envelope for the search for life in the universe. In Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life; Pudritz, R., Higgs, P., Stone, J., Eds.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2007.

Morozkina, E.V.; Slutskaya, E.S.; Fedorova, T.V.; Tugay, T.I.; Golubeva, L.I.; Koroleva, O.V.
Extremophilic microorganisms: Biochemical adaptation and biotechnological application. Appl. Biochem. Microbiol. 2010, 46, 1-14.

Horikoshi, K. Alkaliphiles: Some applications of their products for biotechnology. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 1999, 63, 735-750.

DasSarma, S.; Arora, P. Halophiles, Encyclopedia of Life Sciences; Nature Publishing Group: London, UK, 2002.

Litchfield, C.D.; Gillevet, P.M. Microbial diversity and complexity in hypersaline environments: A preliminary assessment. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2002, 28, 48-55.

Abe, F.; Horikoshi, K. The biotechnological potential of piezophiles. Trends Biotechnol. 2001, 19, 102-108.

Image courtesy :
Featured image: :https://thermophilesyo.weebly.com/uploads/6/0/1/0/60108077/6116846_orig.jpg
Figure 1:
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content/uploads/sites/1950/2017/05/31184427/692px-thermophile-bacteria.jpeg

 

Mushrooms are cholesterol and fat free, which can help reduce your intake of saturated fat.

While fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet, helping your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins that are essential for healthy brain and nerve function, too much is usually not a good thing. Unfortunately, many people still consume too much saturated fat. Mixing mushrooms into your meat dishes is a way to instantly reduce your intake because mushrooms are cholesterol and fat free. Researchers are examining the effects of Portobello and Shiitake mushrooms on preventing the development of high-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis.

Mushrooms rich in vitamin D contain selenium, which is needed to regulate your heart functions.

The trace element and antioxidant selenium is what your thyroid gland uses to function properly and to help regulate your heart and digestive system. Without it, your thyroid and heart would be adversely affected, which is why intake of selenium is important.
Selenium also helps protect your body from damage caused by oxidative stress. This oxidation often causes inflammation, which can increase the risk of heart disease. A series of 16 controlled studies analyzing 44,000 people with heart disease found that taking selenium supplements lowered levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP).
Selenium is found in some meats such as pork and beef, as well as in fish. Adults need a minimum of 55 mcg of selenium per day, while pregnant or breastfeeding women may need more.
With about 8 mcg of selenium in three ounces (85 g) of white mushrooms, this serving provides 15% of your daily value (DV). Brown mushrooms have even higher levels of selenium per serving, packing 40% DV in just three ounces. So the next time you go shopping, slip into a container of heart-healthy mushrooms to help maintain proper heart function.

Fungi can play a role in preventing cardiovascular disease.

Several studies have examined the influence of mushroom consumption on certain metabolic markers like blood pressure and oxidative and inflammatory damage, which may reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Mushrooms can aid circulation by reducing plaque build-up and may be a contributing factor in reducing cardiovascular problems. They also contain potassium, which helps protect your blood vessels from oxidative damage, a major reason blood vessels can become inflamed and restrict flow.

 

References-
https://orangemushroom.net
https://www.mushroommatter.com
Image courtesy:

Featured image:
https://www.mushroomcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/nutrition-vitd-header-1440×500.jpg

We are not at all alone in our bodies. Trillions of microorganisms are there with us inside and outside of our bodies. Have you ever wondered that the number of bacteria that accompany our bodies exceeds the number of our own cells?? Even though it may be hard to believe it was the truth, and if you have imagined that all these microorganisms and “BAD” for us, it is a complete misunderstanding. It is true that microorganisms can cause diseases, but there are some who are very important and beneficial for our health.
There are tons of research going on to find out the involvement of these microorganisms who live with us and their health benefits. Different organs in our bodies contain distinct groups of microorganisms, but the gut microorganisms, also referred to as gut microbiome has become the most attractive topic in today’s biomedical research. The reason for this attractiveness is their involvement in controlling certain diseases, such as obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and a wide range of other conditions.
An international study carried out by Francesco Asnicar, Sarah E. Berr and Nicola Segata (in 2021) have found that the composition of the gut microbiome is clearly influenced by the things we eat. That means by controlling our own diets, we get the chance to manipulate the gut microbiome to become healthier.
Further, they have found that diets rich with whole foods can support the growth of beneficial gut microbes that promote good health. But highly processed foods with added sugars, salt and other additives have totally the opposite effects and can worsen cardiovascular and other diseases.
Ultimately, the message they give to the world is just simple. It was almost the old or may be the most familiar diet advice to have more whole unprocessed foods and to reduce the consumption of processed foods. So, enjoy your healthy meals and make sure your microbial friends are happy!! REMEMBER they will definitely make you happy too!!

Additionally, if you want to make your tummy a better place for these beneficial bacteria some extra tips can be given for you. You can add more fermented food products such as cheese, yoghurts to our meals. These fermented foods contain nutrients preferred by these beneficial gut bacteria. Another helpful dietary advice is to include naturally fermented foods containing probiotics (live beneficial bacteria), such as sauerkraut, pickles, miso, certain types of yogurt to the diets. It is helpful for establishing a healthy gut flora in your tummy.

References
Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Asnicar et al,2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/well/eat/diet-gut-microbiome.html
https://www.todayonline.com/world/how-right-foods-may-lead-healthier-gut-and-better-health

Image courtesy
Featured image- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/gut-check-how-the-microbiome-may-mediate-heart-health
Figure 1- https://www.bradfordclinic.com.au/blog/gut-health-part-3

Among all the amazing creations of Mother Nature, human body is an outstanding work of art that holds lots of mysteries yet to be discovered. Human body consists of nearly 15 trillion cells that are working together to keep us alive.
But are you aware that our body holds more microbial cells than our own human cells? Human body carries more than 100 trillion microbial cells including bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses which add up about 1.5 kg to our total body weight. This collection of microorganisms inhabiting the human body is commonly known as the human microbiome.
Human microbiome plays a key role in the survival and well being of humans without us even knowing that. These microbes are shown to be essential for human development, immunity and nutrition. It helps in digesting our food, regulates our immune system, protects us from pathogenic bacteria and produces vitamins including B vitamins B12, thiamine and riboflavin and Vitamin K.
We acquire these healthy microbes through several mechanisms including from birth where the newborn gets microbes from mother’s birth canal, from breast milk which contains prebiotics and probiotics and from skin of mother and other caregivers and from the environment including other people, pets, plants, soil, water and food.

The majority of the human microbiome lives in our gut, particularly in the large intestine. The intestinal microbiota of newborns has low diversity and dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria and later becomes dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. These microbes play a significant role in digestion of food, nutrient absorption and improving immunity against pathogens.

Here comes the most interesting part!
Do you believe that these gut microbes which reside far away from our brain have a great impact on our mental health and our behaviors? According to many researches including a study done by Timothy Dinan and his team in 2015, it has been seen that the formation of a complex gut microbiota in humans has played an important role in enabling brain development and has a great impact on cognitive function and fundamental behavior patterns, such as social interaction and stress management.
But how is that possible?
This is mainly due to the direct and indirect connections between gut and the brain which creates a gut-brain axis. Gut and brain are strongly connected through several pathways mainly through the neural pathway which includes vagus nerve and neuropod cells and the neuro-endocrine pathway which consists of brain chemicals and hormones. It has been seen that there are multiple bidirectional routes of communication between the brain and the gut microbiota through this gut-brain axis. These microbes can affect the functioning of the brain by producing neurotransmitters and neuromodulators as well as protect the brain from harmful effects of certain pathogens.

All these facts show us that it is crucial to maintain a healthy gut microbiome to ensure and improve our mental well being. So how can we do that? The easiest way is to eat good food. Eating a diverse range of food including plant based food such as beans, banana, almond, garlic, ginger, asparagus, etc. and especially fermented food such as yoghurt, cheese and kefir are shown to improve the gut microbiota. Consumption of prebiotics and probiotics also has profound effects on restoring healthy gut microbes and ensuring the better survival of beneficial gut microbes.
Prebiotics are compounds in food such as complex carbohydrates (oligosaccharides), glycosylated proteins and dietary fibers that induce the growth or activity of beneficial gut microorganisms. These compounds mostly act as food for healthy gut microbes and promote their growth. Prebiotics can be easily acquired by consuming plant based diets.
Probiotics are microbial dietary adjuvants that are made of beneficial, friendly lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii. They are formulated to reflect the composition of healthy gut microflora and have many health benefits for humans. They can be acquired as commercially available supplements or by consuming fermented food especially fermented milk products. Consumed probiotics adhere to intestinal cells and protect them against pathogenic bacteria by acting like a shield and masking receptor sites for pathogenic bacteria and enterotoxigenic compounds.Sample Text

There are other more advanced methods to restore the healthy gut microbiome such as fecal transplantation (FMT) as clinical therapies but they are still requiring further experimentation and acceptance by the general public.
So finally we can see that our gut microbes are real unsung heroes who have been with us from the very beginning of our lives and help us thrive and become healthy humans. So it is required to pay our gratitude towards them by taking good care of them in return.
If we can fix our diets to rejuvenate this natural gift presented to us, we will be able to restore our physical and mental well-being and improve our behaviors as well. Along with that it is essential to realize the importance of natural birth in introducing a healthy microbiome to infants and the role of breast feeding in establishing a healthy gut microbiota which will be a long term investment. All these will lead to create a more healthy community of people that are mentally fit and able to serve this world without any restrictions. Just think about that and remember to eat good food to have good thoughts!

References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273402142_Collective_unconscious_How_gut_microbes_shape_human_behavior
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991899/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-many-cells-are-in-your-body#:~:text=Based%20on%20an%20adult%20man’s,a%20jar%20full%20of%20jellybeans.
https://www.micropia.nl/en/discover/stories/on-and-in-you/#:~:text=You%20and%20your%201.5%20kilos,kilograms%20of%20your%20body%20weight.
https://depts.washington.edu/ceeh/downloads/FF_Microbiome.pdf
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics-what-you-need-to-know#:~:text=Probiotics%20may%20contain%20a%20variety,yeasts%20such%20as%20Saccharomyces%20boulardii.
Image courtesy:
Featured image: https://bit.ly/3dbTEcp
Figure 1: https://bit.ly/2P3ok7X
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Figure 3: https://bit.ly/3d9vzmx
Figure 4: https://bit.ly/3lVFH6o
Figure 5: https://bit.ly/3u2DkBs

The idea of bacteria feeding on food might sound a little scary, but stick with us.From yogurt to soy sauce, go through a process called fermentation. During the fermentation process, these beneficial microbes break down sugars and starches into alcohols and acids.It’s no wonder that fermented foods have been growing in popularity over the years. More and more people have discovered their health benefits and how tasty they are too. Fermentation is a relatively efficient, low energy preservation process which increases the shelf life and decreases the need for refrigeration or other form of food preservation technology. It is therefore a highly appropriate technique for use in developing countries and remote areas where access to sophisticated equipment is limited. Fermented foods are popular throughout the world and in some regions make a significant contribution to the diet of millions of individuals.

There are thousands of different types of fermented foods, including: cultured milk and yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, shrubs, kefir, miso, natto, cheeses, tempeh.

A number of health benefits are associated with fermentation. In fact, fermented foods are often more nutritious than their unfermented form. It helps break down nutrients in food, making them easier to digest.Fermented foods can prevent bad bacteria from growing in your gut. You might say a yogurt a day keeps the bad gut bacteria away. Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir and sour pickles have lactic acid bacteria in them as a result of the fermentation process. Lactic acid bacteria are a type of good bacteria that lower the pH level of whatever environment it lives in, making it less hospitable for bad bacteria. Having a lower pH in your gut means that if and when you do consume sickness-causing bacteria, it won’t be as likely to make you ill. Fermented foods can prevent bad bacteria from attaching to your gut. Not only does lactic acid bacteria lower the pH of your gut to prevent bad bacteria from growing, it also prevents bad bacteria from attaching to the walls of your gastrointestinal tract. Lactic acid bacteria compete with bad bacteria. If it can’t attach to the walls of your gut, it gets passed through your digestive system and out of your body.

Fermented foods deliver more probiotics to your body. Probiotics can help your body in multiple ways: They help alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms, prevent viral infections, and decrease stress levels. Some fermented foods that include probiotics are yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso and kombucha. Probiotics are important in maintaining a balanced gut microbiota, the balance between good and bad bacteria, especially during periods of life when the balance is most fragile, which includes childhood and later years. Eating fermented foods can increase your energy, because the bacteria in your gut are allowing more vitamins and minerals to be absorbed and used by your body. Fermented foods can reduce brain fog, anxiety, moodiness and depression. Fermented foods may reduce the risk of developing colon cancer.
Curious to know where to go to stock your kitchen with these wonder foods? You can also try making your own fermented foods at home, as they have an incredibly long shelf.

References:

One Health, Fermented Foods, and Gut Microbiota, Bell et al., 2018.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119237860.ch39

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-fermentation-learn-about-the-3-different-types-of-fermentation-and-6-tips-for-homemade-fermentation#how-does-fermentation-work

Image courtesy:

Featured image:
https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/blog/blog-posts/2019/6/fermented-foods-for-gut-health/

Figure 01:
http://mariechantalblog.com/2018/04/a-full-guide-to-fermented-foods/

Figure 02:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/the-health-benefits-of-fermentation/

After all this time since the dawn of genetics and biotechnology, out of the barely explored wilderness of a genome of ours we have only studied a very limited fraction of these 3.5 billion base pairs of DNA. Whereas there are only a handful of species whose biology were studied more thoroughly than ourselves. Among them one of the most crucial and most studied species in the whole wide world is a microbe namely the world famous Escherichia coli. Biologists all over the world have studied this organism intensely for about a century, and have made it their guide, an oracle that can speak for all of life to venture upon uncharted waters in molecular biology, occasionally leading them to grab their Nobel prizes. Let’s see why & how a tiny single-celled microbe built up this much of a reputation to be the “molecular biologist tool box”.
Through E. coli we can see history of life as well as the future as it is being the cornerstone of many key findings in biology and genetics. As it turns out, all life including bacteria share a similar foundation which could be revealed by studying E. coli. It led to the discoveries in the structure of many genes, their regulatory nature and their function. Also it was implemented as a model system to study cell division process, bacterial metabolism, biosynthesis of cell walls, chemotaxis as well as its involvement in unveiling the nature of DNA replication, understanding the basis of mutations and evolution was crucial in understanding many theories that we take for granted today in day-to-day studies and research.
Apart from basic research, with the advent of novel biotechnology techniques, E. coli was implemented as a tool to carry out various functions like generating plasmid vectors, gene knockouts, and biosensors to whole genome editing applications which eventually lead to the achievement of a genetically modified organism rendering E. coli to be a key tool in biotechnology.
If it is discussed as to why this rod shaped gram-negative bacillus has borne such great caliber, much of it has to do with its growth characteristics. E. coli can grow in a considerably fast rate in chemically defined cheap culture media without forming aggregates allowing industrial scalability. And its strikingly organized genome with insertion sequences, remnants of many phages, high transport capacity and the fact that a major portion of the genome is uncharacterized for specific molecular pathways had a crucial impact in applied research and development where its genome could be engineered to develop novel strains of the organism that contain important biotechnological characteristics. This followed by extensive knowledge in its transcriptome, proteome and metabolome, rendered E. coli to be one of the most important species in molecular biology & genetic engineering research.
With all the knowledge we have on this wonder microbe and with all the research that is currently being conducted on it, the possibilities are virtually limitless. As a platform for genetic engineering, with the wide range of strains and plasmids that are available, E. coli is being implemented as a toolbox to venture into cutting edge research which will yield novel & profound insights into other microorganisms to discover new microbiological phenomena that will lead the next big leap in molecular biology & biotechnology. This will ensure that Escherichia coli, the meritorious model organism that revolutionized the whole world of molecular biology in the 20th century will continue to do so in the 21st century and beyond.

References :

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/escherichia-coli
https://www.intechopen.com/books/-i-escherichia-coli-i-recent-advances-on-physiology-pathogenesis-and-biotechnological-applications/-i-escherichia-coli-i-as-a-model-organism-and-its-application-in-biotechnology
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4373459/

book:
Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life – Carl Zimmer

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https://www.offset.com/photos/magnification-of-e-coli-escherichia-coli-bacteria-under-a-color-58000

Most people know that cheese is made from milk. Usually most cheeses are made with cow’s milk. This is due in part to the wide availability of cow’s milk and the fact that it offers optimal amounts of fat and protein. Some examples of cow’s milk cheeses include Cheddar, Swiss and Gouda among many others. However, in some parts of the world, people get dairy products from goats, buffalo, and sheep. Even more obscure types of milk can be used to make regional specialty cheeses. For example, camel’s milk is the basis for the South African Caracane cheese. Other cheeses can be made from horse’s, reindeer’s or even yak’s milk.
So how does a bucket of milk become cheese? Cheese making occurs in three main stages. In the first stage, milk is transformed into solid curds and liquid whey through the coagulation of the milk protein casein. The coagulation of casein is usually accomplished through two complementary methods, acidification and proteolysis. Acidification occurs when lactic acid bacteria ferment the disaccharide lactose, to produce lactic acid. Originally, cheesemakers relied upon naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria in the milk, but today, the process is usually standardized by the addition of domesticated bacterial ‘starter’ cultures, including strains of Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus sp. The production of acid by these bacteria causes casein to slowly coagulate. This process is often assisted by the addition of the enzyme chymosin, the active ingredient in rennet. Chymosin is an enzyme that is naturally produced in the stomachs of calves and other mammals to help them digest milk. Rennet is traditionally made from an extract of the intestinal lining of a milk-fed calf, which produces the protease chymosin to aid in the digestion of milk. But today cheesemakers get rennet from bacteria and yeast that have been genetically taught to make the enzyme. Chymosin removes a negatively charged portion of casein, resulting in the rapid aggregation of casein proteins.
In the second stage of cheese making, cheesemakers separate the curds, containing the casein and milk fat, from the whey. Depending on the type of cheese, the curds can be heated, salted, pressed, and eventually formed into wheels of various shapes and sizes. Cheese can be eaten fresh at this point, or the wheels can be left to age in a damp, cool place.
It is during the aging stage of cheese making that cheese is truly transformed from fresh cheese into the myriad flavors, aromas, and textures of mature cheese. As a normal part of the aging process, starter cultures and non-starter lactic acid bacteria continue to grow and metabolize the interior of the cheese, while the surface of a cheese is colonized by bacteria and fungi that form a multispecies biofilm, termed the ‘rind’ of the cheese.
The way a cheese looks, smells and tastes depends on many factors, including the animal that produced the milk, what the animal was fed, which bacteria were used in the starter culture and how the cheese was processed. Mozzarella cheese has a stringy quality because it’s kneaded like dough before being formed into its final shape.

The holes in Swiss cheese result from the growth of the bacterium Propionibacterium freundenreichii. The P. freundenreichii ferments the lactic acid present after the growth of the lactic acid bacteria. The products of this fermentation include propionic acid, which is one of the characteristic flavors of Swiss cheese, and CO2. Because P. freundenreichii prefers anaerobic conditions, growth occurs inside the wheel of cheese, and the CO2 produced during fermentation is trapped and forms the typical bubbles or holes found in Swiss cheese.

A related fungus, Penicillium roqueforti, is the key microbe in blue cheese. It can also be inoculated into milk destined to become blue cheese. Because P. roqueforti is a microaerophile, it prefers to grow in crevices created by puncturing a cheese with metal spikes after the wheels are formed. The P. roqueforti produces lipases that convert the fats in cheese to peppery free fatty acids and the methyl ketone 2-heptanone, which gives the characteristic blue aroma. The blue pigment seen in blue cheese is produced by P. roqueforti during sporulation.
It’s not a coincidence that some cheese smells funky. Washed rind cheeses, such as Epoisses and Limburger, are regularly washed with a brine solution during the aging process. This creates a moist, salty environment on the surface of the cheese in which certain species of fungi and bacteria thrive. One of the best-known species is the actinomycete bacteria Brevibacterium linens. The B. linens contribute to the reddish-orange color typical of these cheeses through the production of carotenoid pigments. Additionally, B. linens metabolize the casein proteins to a variety of volatile compounds, including amines and sulfur compounds, giving these cheeses their funky, sweaty aromas. The related bacterium B. epidermidis can be found growing on human skin and, not surprisingly, is thought to contribute to body odor. Some people don’t mind the smell. But if Mom or Dad brings home a block of Limburger, be prepared to hold your nose. So eventually you will understand actually the wonder is between different kinds of microorganisms which have the ability to produce different kinds of metabolic compounds and have specific activities that will result in various types of cheeses you enjoy today.

References:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/ever-wondered-how-milk-becomes-cheese/2015/05/15/32abad22-ece8-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html
https://sclydeweaver.com/blog/how-is-cheese-made/
https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/827-the-science-of-cheese

Image courtesy:
Featured image:
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/dairy/different-types-of-cheese.htm
Figure 1:
https://cheesemaking.com/products/30-minute-mozzarella-recipe
Figure 2:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/the-serendipity-of-swiss-cheese/
Figure 3:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-blue-cheese-mold

Dandruff is not a disease but an unpleasant phenomenon. It’s a common scalp disorder affecting almost half of the population at the post-pubertal age and of any gender and ethnicity. It is characterized by flaking or scaling of the skin of the scalp which causes itchiness and shedding of white powder over the shoulders causing a very unpleasant look which also creates a negative self-esteem in both sexes. It is termed as seborrhoeic dermatitis. Earlier scientists considered Malassezia furfur as the causal agent of dandruff but latest studies show that two other forms of the fungus called Malassezia restricta and M. globosa are the causal organisms of dandruff.

Dandruff is caused by an overgrowth of a fungus called Malassezia. It is a yeast-like fungus that grows on the scalp. Malassezia grows on everyone’s scalps naturally. So it is not a problem. But when only it penetrates deeper through the scalp’s natural barrier, it begins to cause problems by making the scalp itchy and can cause flaking. Malassezia globosa metabolizes triglycerides present in sebum resulting in the production of oleic acid as a lipid byproduct. During dandruff condition, the level of Malassezia increases by 1.5- 2 times its normal level. Oleic acid penetrates the top layer of epidermis, the stratum corneum and induces an inflammatory response in susceptible people which causes erratic cleavage of stratum corneum cells. Dandruff scale is a cluster of corneocytes which have retained a large degree of cohesion with one another and detach as such from the surface of the stratum corneum. The size and abundance of scales are heterogeneous from one site to another and over time. Parakeratotic cells often make up a part of dandruff. Their numbers depend on the severity of the clinical manifestation. This fungus is not contagious. So this disorder is not spread through contact of infected people to non-infected people.

When this condition prevails for a long time, many other problems can also occur as follows.
· Acne: Contact of dandruff with the face may induce pimples. So dandruff is responsible for the sudden outbreak of pimples. A facial wash containing Salicylic Acid can be used to cleanse the face and prevent acne formation due to dandruff fallouts.
· Hair loss: One of the symptoms of dandruff is scratching of the scalp which is caused due to itchiness and extreme dryness. Prolonged scratching may cause damage to hair strands and their follicles and these results in hair strand breaking and falling off. In order to reduce the dryness of the scalp, aloe vera gel or coconut oil can be applied on the scalp as both of them have antifungal and antibacterial properties. And also anti-dandruff shampoo can be used to cleanse the scalp.
Several other non-microbial factors are also affected for excessive dandruff formation such as genetic and environmental factors. Excessive exposure to sunlight is known to cause exfoliation of the scalp. Over shampooing, frequent combing, use of certain cosmetic products, dusts and dirt are also affected for excessive dandruff formation.
The following treatments can be followed to minimize adverse effects caused by excessive dandruff condition. Antifungal treatments including ketoconazole, zinc pyrithione and selenium disulfide have been found to be effective against dandruff. Several plant extracts such as lemon, aloevera, fenugreek, henna and amla showed a good activity against dandruff because these extracts consist of antifungal compounds and could be safely used for dandruff treatments. Personal hygiene can be maintained properly by washing hair every two days once with mild shampoo. Combs, pillow covers and towels can be washed regularly. Avoid using others’ comb and towel. Oil hair 1 hour before hair wash. Avoid going out with oily hair. Use suitable herbal shampoo and conditioner. Avoid experimenting with new hair care products.
These treatments will guide for a better look and confidence by saying goodbye to dandruff. So everyone can try out and follow these good health habits to get rid of this awful and discomforting dandruff condition.

References:
Anupam Dikshit et al. (2012). “Botanicals for the management of dandruff. Medicinal plants”
C. Pie´rard-Franchimont, E. Xhauflaire-Uhoda and G. E. Pie´rard “Revisiting dandruff- Review Article”, International Journal of Cosmetic Science (13 March 2006)
Mamatha Pingili et al. “Antifungal activity of plant extracts against dandruff causing organism Malassezia furfur”, International Journal of bioassays (October 28, 2016)
S.Ranganathan, T.Mukhopadhyay “Dandruff: The most commercially exploited skin disease”, Indian journal of dermatology, 2010- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Image courtesy:
Featured image:
https://images.app.goo.gl/rmq1w96z8vvGshiz9
Figure 1:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandruff
Figure 2:
C. Pie´rard-Franchimont, E. Xhauflaire-Uhoda and G. E. Pie´rard “Revisiting dandruff- Review Article”, International Journal of Cosmetic Science (13 March 2006)

Microbes, or microscopic organisms are widely used in large-scale industrial processes for thousands of years. They are crucial for the production of a variety of metabolites, such as ethanol, butanol, lactic acid, and riboflavin, as well as the transformation of chemicals that help to reduce environmental pollution. It is proposed that the widespread utilization of selected beneficial microbial biodiversity could revolutionize agriculture to a low-cost, eco-friendly and sustainable activity. However, there are big challenges Sri Lanka faces in using these microbes in industries. Some of the challenges are analyzed throughout this essay.
In the agricultural industry, one of the most troubleshooting problems is large-scale crops being attacked by several pathogenic microorganisms which lead to severe diseases to the plants. The European countries have overcome pest’s damages by using “microorganisms” as biocontrol agents but, in Sri Lanka, farmers or agricultural officers do not have the technology and research knowledge to pest control using microbes. Therefore, issues relating to pest controls still remain. If Sri Lanka uses these microorganisms’ intended technology, it can enhance the quality as well as the final crop yield of “Tea”, as it is one of the main export crops to the international market from Sri Lanka. However, the huge usage of the microorganisms without control would lead to the appearance of new species. This disrupts the balance of the natural ecosystem and pesticides would bio accumulate in food chains. If the microorganisms are controlled well, this method would be the best in pest control and disease control of crop plants in a country like Sri Lanka.
There are also deficiencies when it comes to the use of microbes in the medical and pharmaceutical industries in Sri Lanka. For instance, Sri Lanka is struggling to not only produce its own vaccines let alone have the facility to store them. Currently, Sri Lanka is administering the AstraZeneca “covishield” vaccine which can be stored at regular temperature and is only 62-90% effective, however, Pfizer and Moderna are 95% effective but it has to be stored at a temperature of -70 degree Celsius which is a facility Sri Lanka cannot afford. Besides, if there are enough provisions to extract and micro analyze the genomes of many pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, it may open new possibilities for the design of novel antibiotics which target essential functions of problematic bacteria. This shows a large amount of funding is not more directed to industrial biotechnology in Sri Lanka.
If you take the rubber industry, Microbes including E. coli naturally make small amounts of isoprene as part of their metabolism, but not nearly enough to be used on an industrial scale. Companies in the USA have found changes in metabolic pathways that converge to create an isoprene precursor by adding to the E. coli, a plant gene coding for isoprene synthase, an enzyme that converts the precursor directly into isoprene. They have ramped up microbial production of isoprene to such a scale that it can compete with petroleum-derived rubber. Sri Lanka being the world’s 6th largest exporter and the 8th largest natural rubber producing country does not have enough funds nor an organized system to start up biotechnological companies and utilize the added advantage it possesses. This is a major drawback for the rubber industry in Sri Lanka.
Compost is a widely accepted organic fertilizer in Sri Lanka and It is being produced using a wide variety of source materials at household to commercial scale. Producing good-quality compost safe for human health and the environment at large has become a challenge that should be addressed at various levels: from production to policy making. There are several challenges to be addressed to overcome the negative impact on the environment and public health. One major aspect affecting is the inadequate sorting/segregation of Municipal Solid Waste used for compost production. Municipal Solid Waste and poultry manure/litter, which are some common raw materials used in medium- to large-scale composting facilities in Sri Lanka, contribute to the spread of some pollutants of emerging concerns. Antimicrobial resistance determinants, micro-and nano plastics, and organic pollutants are major emerging pollutants that have not yet received the attention of policymakers and regulatory bodies in Sri Lanka.
The present study has focused on the isolation and identification of bacteria from hot water springs which have the potential of producing industrially important extracellular enzymes. Water and soil samples were collected from seven hot water springs located in Mahaoya, Wahava, Madunagala, Kivlegama, Gomarankadavala, Kanniya, NelumWeva in the country. At the same time, In Sri Lanka’s rural areas, freshwater supply heavily relies on single household dug wells in which have identified the presence of cyanobacteria cells as well as potent cyanotoxins at levels alarmingly higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. It is concerning that the toxins have been detected throughout the year in the dug wells, which can result in chronic illnesses. The water chemistry and microbiome of household wells in Medawachchiya, an area with a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) has been found. This could be the result of the high usage of microbes in industries.
Microbes are described as the main organisms able to carry out fermentation. Through indigenous fermentation, many products have been standardized and commercialized (ales, natural yeast; cheeses, natural fungi; wines, natural yeast), whilst many other products are made and commercialized in limited quantities for specialized markers or even remain uncommercialized. Some of the microorganisms of interest recently described for industrial fermentations require ‘extreme conditions’ for growth like high salt concentration or highly acidic pH. This is the case of halophilic or acid thermophilic microbes, respectively. Operating under these conditions causes corrosion (which affects the half-life of most of the bioreactor currently available), thus negatively affecting the implementation of these microorganisms at a large scale.
Another type of challenge is the competition with chemical catalysts. Industrial biotechnology has not developed as fast as expected due to some challenges including the emergence of alternative energy sources, especially shale gas, natural gas hydrate (or gas hydrate), and sand oil. The weaknesses of microbial or enzymatic processes compared with chemical processing also make industrial biotech products less competitive with the chemical ones. For example, the replacement of petrol with biogas. Bioprocessing is still not as effective as chemical processing, resulting in high cost of bio-products and the chemical industry is also evolving competitively in various ways including environmental friendliness, the use of renewable resources (biomass) for making chemicals that are normally derived from petrochemicals.
In the food industry, for instance, in Sri Lanka, there are many dairy farms and milk factories. However, cheese is a product that is still in demand. Cheese requires both microbes (lactic acid bacteria) and milk as its primary ingredients. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of fresh milk for cheese production. So even if microbes are easily available in this instance, the deficiency of other raw materials makes this process an unfinished business. Agriculture raw materials for bioprocessing are becoming increasingly costly. There are about only three local cheese producers in Sri Lanka, while a large quantity is imported to the country. There is immense economic potential in cheese making and apart from being a good income earner, as a cottage industry, it could generate employment with more and more small dairy farms too. Since local production itself is a challenge, exporting becomes secondary.
In conclusion, it is evident that there are several deficiencies in the current Sri Lankan industries when it comes to the use of microbes. Lack of technology and funding has posed to be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Sri Lanka as a country is no less capable than the other countries that have progressed in utilizing microbes for the greater good. By overcoming the difficulties, Sri Lanka is guaranteed to prevail in its growth and experience what it truly is about.

References
https://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1139-67092004000200001
https://microbialcellfactories.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2859-11-111

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Featured image:
https://www.reference.com/science/harmful-effects-microorganisms-6f2cc6b780a6bf67

Bioremediation is a branch of biotechnology that use living organisms like bacteria, fungi or their enzymes for the removal of contaminants, toxins, heavy metals or other pollutants from the environment. Bioremediation is possible due to the ability of microbes to utilize a wide range of organic substances as a carbon source. Microbes are often able to convert harmful substances to harmless or less harmful chemicals through metabolic pathways. They can also immobilize toxins and heavy metals.
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic materials that are of great use to humans. Plastics are present in many human consumables from toys, tools, automobiles, packaging, furniture, and a lot more. Metal, glass, wood, and leather that was used historically had now been replaced by plastics. Many properties make plastics invaluable, such as; being lightweight, hygienic, flexible, waterproof, and highly durable. Durability is a key feature for the value of plastic items, but is also a huge problem to the environment. Plastics are made from fossil fuel based petrochemicals like natural gas or petroleum. These are large polymers and not easily decomposed in nature. It is estimated that a single use plastic bottle takes 450 years to fully decompose which is equivalent to 5 human generations. Since humans use a wide range of plastic goods where production surpass decomposition, plastic waste is responsible for the pollution of water, soil, as well as the air we breathe. The normal decomposition of plastics also impose a problem due to the formation of microplastics which will be discussed in this article.
Microplastics are all types of plastics less than 5 mm in length. The decomposition of discarded plastics or synthesis of microplastics for use in consumables such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste releases microplastics to the environment. The problem with microplastics is the bioaccumulation within animal and plant tissue by ingestion. Due to the small size, microplastics cannot be physically extracted from polluted sites. Some commonly used methods of plastic disposal are landfills, incineration, recycling, road construction, and petrol production. However, methods like landfills result in soil and underground water pollution, incineration can release toxic gases and microplastics to the atmosphere, recycling and petrol production require a high investment of capital for startup and continuation. Bioremediation appears to be the best solution for the present plastic waste.
Even though plastics are resistant to microbial attacks certain species of bacteria and fungi can be utilized for its degradation. According to scientific literature, biodegradation of plastic involve four stages; adherence of microbes to the surface of polymer, exploitation of polymer as a food source, primary degradation of polymer, and ultimate degradation of polymer. Under aerobic conditions biodegradation of plastics produce CO2, H2O, and biomass, anaerobic conditions additionally generate CH4. Some of the fungi that can be utilized for plastic decomposition are Aspergillus niger, Penicillium funiculosum, Paecilomyces variotii, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus sydowii and Gliocladium virens. Bacteria capable of degrading plastics had been isolated from areas that are already polluted with plastics such as mangrove soil, landfills, and marine water. Streptococcus lactis, Pseudomonas sp, and Bacillus subtilis are some species found to be best at decomposing plastics. These microbes may require specific environmental conditions such as optimum temperatures, special substrates, and certain pH values for efficient activity.
Plastic decomposition using microbes can be carried out in vitro or in vivo. In vitro methods had been the most efficient so far, also for vast polluted areas such as soils and marine ecosystems this is the most suitable. Potential problems are; the inability to control the environment conditions to provide the optimum conditions for microbial activity, the addition of foreign species to the environment, and some types of plastics like polythene are difficult to degrade. However, the advantages of utilizing bioremediation for plastic degradation is it being ecofriendly and able to target the elusive microplastics as well. Improvements to the bioremediation process such as developing microbes with a higher capacity at degradation using recombinant gene technology can be looked forward to.

References:
Bioremediation Technology for Plastic Waste. Mohd. Shahnawaz, Manisha K. Sangale and Avinash B. Ade, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioremediation

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Featured image:
https://opgplus.com/bioremediation-basics/
Figure 1
https://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/en/m/science/news/bacterial-degradation-of-synthetic-plastics/

What are bio fertilizers? Bio fertilizers are the substance which contains beneficial microbes, which helps in promoting the growth of plants and trees by increasing the supply of essential nutrients to the plants. It comprises living organisms which include mycorrhizal fungi, blue-green algae and bacteria. This practice of using beneficial microbes in agriculture started about 60 years ago. But the attention for this application has been increased in considerable amounts within the last decades due to continuous use of agrochemicals such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture is detrimental to human health such as infant methemoglobinemia and which also cause ecological imbalance. The use of chemical fertilizer will also cause air and ground water pollution resulting from eutrophication. This practice also adversely affects the roots of the crops by making them unable to access nutrients. Therefore, there is a need to replace this conventional agricultural practice by implying a safer alternative to enhance the growth of the plants without affecting the agroecosystem.

In Sri Lanka, bio fertilizer is used in few cultivar plantations since unawareness of farmers. Also most bio fertilizers are being tested and held under research level for available crops such as rice, maize, coconut, rubber, big onions, vegetables in Sri Lanka. More research has been conducted for varieties of rice cultivation in Sri Lanka since the main food resource is rice. As examples, a project was done in 2012 for developing a biofilm biofertilizer for rice varieties such as “Suwandel”, “Ran thembili el” and “Kalu heenati”. According to the results, there was no significant difference in the yield between the farmer’s practice and the bio fertilizer only treatment. But, when coupled with the bulky organic material and bio fertilizer gave significantly higher grain yield. Therefore, both public and private sectors that are related to the agricultural field can introduce some biofertilizers for the farmers to evaluate the validity and suitability of the bio fertilizer with regard to the increasing crop yield. In addition to that, the ability of Azolla pinnata to grow and establish itself in rice fields was examined in several locations, falling within different agro-ecological zones of Sri Lanka. Under that project, Azolla that was grown with rice resulted in grain yields equivalent to fields that received 55 to 84 Kg N/ha of chemical nitrogen fertilizer and brought about a 50% reduction in weed growth.

In 2014 March, the first commercial biofilm biofertilizer product was launched for the tea Plantations under the brand name ‘Biofilm-T’ by Lanka Bio Fertilizers (Pvt) Ltd a subsidiary of Nature’s Beauty Creations. Now it is used widely in tea cultivation to increase yield and enhance tea plant growth rate, increase in capability to retain water makes tea plants more drought resistant. Biofilm-T successfully utilized amongst Small Holders in Makandura, Baangalthuduwa Estate-Batapola, Green Field Estate-Pitigala, Eduragala Estate-Kotagala Sri lanka.

At present, Lanka Bio Fertilizers (Pvt) Limited manufactures Bio fertilizer for Tea Plantations & maize under the brand name ‘Biofilm-T’ and ‘Biofilm-M’. Successful trials were conducted for Biofilm-M in Mahiyanganaya, Sri Lanka gave positive results as increasing the corn size and grain yield. Further, researches are being performed to develop commercial biofertilizers for other crops such as rice, chilies, coconut and vegetables since the main food necessity in Sri Lanka.

Biofilm biofertilizer gives large benefits to the country because each one ton of bio fertilizer can reduce 150 tons of chemical fertilizer dumped onto soils and save over Rs. 14 million in foreign exchange and over Rs. 10 million in fertilizer subsidy. Also bio fertilizer will help to preserve agrarian lands for future generations due to reduce the pollution. Not only to the country but also the farmers are given huge benefits by using bio fertilizer as those are cheaper than using only chemical fertilizer, it generates higher yields (15-30% increase) and improves quality of crop.

Therefore, the government should give their attention to the developing commercial biofertilizers to main crops in Sri Lanka, promoting the awareness and buying of bio fertilizer among local farmers.

References:

Nirodha Weeraratne1*, Gamini Seneviratne1(2012), Biofilmed bio fertilizers can replace bulky organic fertilizer handling in organic rice cultivation of Sri Lanka

S. A. Kulasooriya, W. K. Hirimburegama, S. W. Abeysekera, Azolla as a bio fertilizer for rice in Sri Lanka

http://www.biofilm.lk/about_us.html

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Featured image:

Biofertilizer- Advantages, Types, methods of application and Disadvantages

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

file:///C:/Users/mega%20computers/Downloads/Biofilm%20Biofertilzier%20-%20A%20Success%20Story%20(4).pdf

Pathogenicity refers to the ability of an organism to cause disease. It includes factors that contribute to disease or disorder and also talk about progression and maintenance. The state of being pathogenic is the pathogenicity. Pathogenicity expressed using microbial virulence and the degree of the organism’s pathogenicity. The genetic, biochemical and organism structural features that guide, the ability of pathogens to cause disease. This is called the determinants of virulence. The relationship between host and pathogen is dynamic. The pathogen and host both factors affect bacterial pathogenicity. Bacterial pathogens produce a wide range of molecules that bind the target host cell to facilitate a variety of different host responses.

Many different genera bacterial pathogens share common mechanisms that help to adhere, invade, and cause damage to host cells and tissues. And also to survive host defense and establish infection. Microbial pathogenicity is essential to describe the molecular mechanisms of bacterial virulence and to the development of vaccines and other therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. Bacterial virulence factors encoded in bacterial plasmids. This virulence factor genes integrate into the bacterial chromosome. Bacterial infection results from a disturbance in the balance between bacterial virulence and host resistance. The goal of bacteria is to multiply rather than to cause disease. Resistance to bacterial infections is enhanced by phagocytic cells and an intact immune system. The invasion of the host by bacteria then multiplies in close association with the host’s tissues. The capacity of a bacterium to cause disease reflects its relative pathogenicity.

Bacteria largely organized into three groups. They are Frank/Primary pathogens, Opportunistic pathogens and nonpathogens. Primary pathogens are considered to be expected agents of disease. Opportunistic pathogens become pathogenic following the disturbance or disruption of a host’s defense mechanisms. Nonpathogenic bacteria naturally exist within the host and cause disease to happen occasionally or never happen. Nonpathogens may change because of the adaptability of bacteria and the detrimental effect of modern radiation therapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy on resistance mechanisms.

Virulence is the severity of a disease.

Number of physical and chemical features of the host help to act against bacterial infection such as antibacterial factors which secretions covering mucosal surfaces and rapid rate of replacement of skin and mucosal epithelial cells. Bacteria needed iron for growth. When bacteria penetrate the surface of the body, they find an environment in which they can get free irons to grow.

Virulence used a measurement for the pathogenicity of an organism. Adherence Factors, Capsules, Endotoxins and exotoxins which are secreted by pathogenic bacteria and siderophores to compete with the host for iron, which is an essential growth factor are called virulence factors. A healthy, intact immune system of the host can defend against bacterial infections. There are a number of factors that can affect host susceptibility. Most of the pathogenic bacteria multiply in tissue fluids such as respiratory system tissues. Medical science managed to make significant progress against pathogenic bacteria by using antibiotics. Antibiotics are any substances that inhibit the growth and replication of a bacteria. Most of the bacteria are harmless or often beneficial, but bacterial pathogenicity is important for the study of bacterial interaction with different hosts and how to prevent bacterial infections.

Image courtesy

Featured image:

https://blog.frontiersin.org/2018/07/06/new-section-on-molecular-bacterial-p athogenesis-open-for-submissions/

Figure 1:http://textbookofbacteriology.net/pathogenesis.html

Figure 2: https://www.coursehero.com/sg/microbiology/virulence/

References:

file:///C:/Users/a.k.computer/Desktop/Blog%20article/Bacterial%20Pathogen esis%20-%20Medical%20Microbiology%20-%20NCBI%20Bookshelf.html file:///C:/Users/a.k.computer/Desktop/Blog%20article/Mechanisms%20of%2 0bacterial%20pathogenicity%20Postgraduate%20Medical%20Journal.html file:///C:/Users/a.k.computer/Desktop/Blog%20article/What%20is%20Bacter ial%20Pathogenesis.html

The development of a biofilm consists of several stages, including the formation of a conditioning layer, bacterial adhesion, bacterial growth, biofilm maturation, and detachment. Different steps of microbial interactions with surfaces result in the formation of extracellular microbial structures. These mechanisms aid in initial binding, biofilm structure repair, and biofilm dispersal. Biofilm formation is thought to begin When bacteria detect environmental conditions that initiate the transition to life on a surface. Environmental signals such as nutrient content, temperature, moisture, pH, iron, and oxygen can all influence biofilm formation. Cells dedicated to adhesion upregulate complex adhesion genes within minutes of attaching to the surface. Attached bacterial cells produce new exopolysaccharide content to strengthen their adhesion to the surface and other bacterial cells in the expanding biofilm, transitioning from the reversible attachment to the irreversible adhesion process of biofilm formation. Biofilm related proteins aggrandize all primary attachments to nonliving surfaces and intercellular adhesion, according to studies on primary attachment, intracellular aggregation, and biofilm formation. Co-aggregation reactions play a part in the formation of biofilms in two distinct ways. The first way is Single cells in suspension, for example, readily concede and bind to genetically distinct cells in mature biofilms. The second method is Prior Co-aggregation, which involves suspending secondary colonizers and then adhering this co-aggregate to the expanding biofilm. By using a quorum sensing mechanism bacterium interact with each other within a culture in response to population density by using various chemicals known as signal molecules. The presence of macro-colonies with water channels indicates that the biofilm has matured. Detachment is a cell-to-cell connectivity process that is regulated by attached cell populations.

A bacterial biofilm state can be needed for a variety of reasons. For instance, biofilm can increase bacteria’s resistance to harsh environmental conditions. Bacteria can bind to a surface or tissue to prevent being washed away by water or the bloodstream. Oral biofilms can withstand repeated, high shear forces. Biofilm cells are 1000 times more resistant than planktonic cells. Also, the EPS matrix defends bacteria cells in deeper layers from antimicrobial agents, most likely by limiting antimicrobial agent diffusion. Biofilms limit bacterial mobility and increase cell density, creating an ideal condition for eDNA (plasmid) exchange (via conjugation), which encodes for antibiotic resistance in some situations. The rate of horizontal gene transfer in biofilms is substantially higher than in planktonic cells.

Biofilms play a significant role in disease transmission and persistence in humans. Many bacterial infections, such as chronic lung, wound, and ear infections, are caused by biofilms. These diseases are difficult to detect and treat. Food contamination and biofouling in the industry are the other negative aspects of biofilms.

Controlling biofilm production is difficult because microorganisms in biofilm evolve different mechanisms in different environments; however, there are successful methods for controlling biofilm formation. To control bacterial adhesion, antimicrobial agents (antibiotics, oxidants, and biocides), surface modifications, and electro-assisted methods can be used. Biofilm detectors, such as mechatronic surface sensors, track bacterial colonies and aid in biofilm monitoring during the early stages of growth etc.

Biofilms, on the other hand, have a beneficial role in bioremediation. Application in this field is rare since it is still understudied. Gene transfer within the bacterial population can be used to target biofilm applications of bioremediation.

References:

https://www.ijcmas.com/vol-3-12/M.%20Zubair,%20et%20al.pdf

https://www.future-science.com/doi/pdf/10.4155/fmc.15.6

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro821

Image courtesy:

Featured image:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b9/97/97/b99797e9c6791a6bc08a2ad1bddbbcd3.jpg

Figure 1:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/isu_A5br44sX7T-NwwZGwjjcm7mbZoDxgLPAw_896YVSixqzqnum7JqimZkCWwxYG2vbsIpW3Hm0b12YssbWsHyUCG_YoYdSz4PJF2n3e2IKWEFoh-EqFPzbPdoY_X1IQuBlLTMY3Q3OHiCeU-2ACqAn3AT1

Figure 2:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339422375/figure/download/fig4/AS:861195951169538@1582336523061/Steps-leading-to-bacterial-biofilm-formation-Adapted-from-59.ppm