Importance of bacteria in the field of biotechnology

1. IMPORTANCE OF BACTERIA IN
- ZEEL BRAHMBHATT (21-BT
-009)

2. Bacteria have been utilized to develop biotechnology tools by using
our understanding of their way of living, infecting their hosts, or defending
themselves against viruses.
The biotechnology industry uses bacterial cells for the production of biological
substances that are useful to human existence, including fuels, foods, medicines,
hormones, enzymes, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Bacteria are the main producers of clinically useful antibiotics; they are a
source of vaccines against once dreaded diseases; they are probiotics that
enhance our health; and they are primary participants in the fermentations of
dairy products and many other foods.

3. Bacteria which have been engineered genetically to degrade
petroleum products are used in cleanup of oil spills and other
bioremediation efforts.
Another area of biotechnology involves improvement of the
qualities of plants through genetic engineering so that they are
resistant to certain pests, herbicides, and diseases.
One biotechnological application of bacteria involves the
genetic construction of super strains of organisms to perform
particular metabolic tasks in the environment.
Thermus aquaticus, the thermophilic bacterium that is the
source of taq polymerase.The polymerase chain reaction
(PCR), a mainstay of the biotechnology industry because it
allows duplication of genes starting with a single molecule of
DNA, is based on the use of the DNA polymerase enzyme
derived fromThermus aquaticus.

4. Bacteria can translate foreign genes into
proteins – and scientists have ways to
ensure that the bacteria make the
proteins in large amounts. For these
reasons, bacteria can function as ‘protein
factories’, - insulin the first protein for
treating diabetes.
In 1983, Eli Lilly an American company
prepared two DNA sequences
corresponding to A and B, chains of
human insulin and introduced them in
plasmids of E. coli to produce insulin
chains.

5. EDIBLEVACCINES

6. GENETIC MODIFICATION OF PLANTS

7. Many proteins, particularly medicines, are
produced by expressing the genes that encode
them in bacteria. To obtain the proteins in
industrial amounts, bacteria are grown in large
fermentation vessels. The industrial
microorganisms are grown under controlled
conditions with an aim of optimizing the
growth of the organism for production of a
target microbial product
Pasteur said it best,"Never underestimate the power of the microbe."
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