Useful bacteria Economic importance of bacteria

1 useful bacteria

1.1 food processing
1.2 biotechnology
1.3 genetic engineering
1.4 fibre retting
1.5 digestion
1.6 pest control

useful bacteria

food processing

recently refreshed sourdough

sourdough bread made rise fermentation, leaven consists of bacteria, combined wild yeasts.

the milk-souring bacterium lactobacillus bulgaricus used make yoghurt , cheese. bacteria used, too, form organic acids in pickles , vinegar.

biotechnology

biotechnology use of microorganisms including bacteria , fungi in manufacturing , services industries. these include chemical manufacturing such ethanol, acetone, organic acid, enzymes, , perfumes. in chemical industry, bacteria important in production of pharmaceuticals. clostridium butyclicum used commercial preparation of riboflavin , vitamin k.

genetic engineering

genetic engineering manipulation of genes. called recombinant dna technology. in genetic engineering, pieces of dna (genes) introduced host variety of techniques, 1 of earliest being use of virus vector. foreign dna becomes permanent feature of host, , replicated , passed on daughter cells along rest of dna. bacterial cells transformed , used in production of commercially important products. examples production of human insulin (used against diabetes), human growth hormone (somatotrophin used treat pituitary dwarfism), , infections can used fight viral diseases.

using biotechnology techniques, or bio medical technology bacteria can bioengineered production of therapeutic proteins.

fibre retting

dew retting of flax

bacteria used separate fibres of jute, hemp, , flax in process of retting. plants immersed in water , when swell, inoculated bacteria hydrolyze pectic substances of cell walls , separate fibres. alternatively plants left spread out on ground, wetted dew, ret naturally. these separated fibres used make ropes , sacks etc.

digestion

some bacteria living in gut of cattle, horses , other herbivores secrete cellulase, enzyme helps in digestion of cellulose of plant cell walls. cellulose major source of energy these animals. escherichia coli live in human large intestine synthesizes vitamin b , releases human use.

pest control

bacteria can used in place of pesticides in biological pest control. commonly uses bacillus thuringiensis (also called bt), gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium. bacterium used lepidopteran-specific insecticide under trade names such dipel , thuricide. because of specificity, these pesticides regarded environmentally friendly, little effect on humans, wildlife, pollinators, or other beneficial insects.