Uses And Application Of Microorganisms

Colegio Británico de Cartagena
Project of Biology

Uses and application of microrganisms

Christian Lazo
Daniela Paramo
9ª

Fecha: 01/11/12

Introduction

In this project we will be able to learn about how bacteria is related to preserving food, how bacteria and fungi decompose organic material, how bacteria help in nitrogen fixatio and bacteria in biotechnology.

Also we willshow the definition of each topic, to have an idea of what is every topic about.

We will explain the different types of bacteria that intervene in the processes of nitrogen fixation.

We will define the types of biotechnology regarding to bacteria and fungi.

We will explain the different ways of preserving food against bacteria.

We will explain the decomposition of organic materialby fungi and bacteria.



Topics

Nitrogen fixation:

Nitrogen fixation is a process by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH3). Atmospheric nitrogen or elemental nitrogen is relatively inert: it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds. Fixation processes free up the nitrogen atoms from their diatomic form (N2) to be used in other ways.Nitrogen fixation, natural and synthetic, is essential for all forms of life because nitrogen is required to biosynthesize basic building blocks of plants, animals and other life forms.

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, microorganisms capable of transforming atmospheric nitrogen into fixed nitrogen, inorganic compounds usable by plants.

Two kinds of nitrogen fixers are recognized: free-living(non-symbiotic) bacteria, including the cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) Anabaena and Nostoc and such genera as Azotobacter, Beijerinckia, and Clostridium; and mutualistic (symbiotic) bacteria such as Rhizobium, associated with leguminous plants, and Spirillum lipoferum, associated with cereal grasses.

The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria invade the root hairs of host plants, where theymultiply and stimulate formation of root nodules, enlargements of plant cells and bacteria in intimate association. Within the nodules the bacteria convert free nitrogen to nitrates, which the host plant utilizes for its development. To insure sufficient nodule formation and optimum growth of legumes, seeds are usually inoculated with commercial cultures of appropriate Rhizobium species, especially insoils poor or lacking in the required bacterium.

Nitrogen fixation by Rhizobia and Frankia:

Rhizobia are Gram-negative with the ability to establish a N2-fixing symbiosis on legume roots and on the stems of some aquatic legumes. During this interaction bacteroids, as rhizobia are called in the symbiotic state, are contained in intracellular compartments within a specialized organ, the nodule,where they fix N2. Similarly, Frankia, Gram-positive soil bacteria induce the formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules in actinorhizal plants.

Nitrogen fixation by Cyanobacteria:

Cyanobacteria inhabit nearly all illuminated environments on Earth and play key roles in the carbon and nitrogen cycle of the biosphere. In general, cyanobacteria are able to utilize a variety of inorganic and organicsources of combined nitrogen, like nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, or some amino acids. Several cyanobacterial strains are also capable of diazotrophic growth, an ability which may have been present in their last common ancestor in the Archaean.

Biotechnology:

Biotechnology is generally accepted as the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products. For thousandsof years, humankind has used biotechnology in agriculture, food production and medicine. The term itself is largely believed to have been coined in 1919 by Hungarian engineer Karl Ereky. In the late 20th and early 21st century, biotechnology has expanded to include new and diverse sciences such as genomics, recombinant gene technologies, applied immunology, and development of pharmaceutical...