RESEARCH 

   
PROJECT   

TOPIC:- Microbes in Human Welfare 

  
By :- Harekam kau
Class:- Bsc.Biotechnology [sem5]
University roll no. :- 10741817416 
 Acknowledgement 
 
I express my sincere thanks to Dr.Pushpinder 
Walia,Principal,BBK DAV College for Women , Amritsar . 
  
  I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to 
Dr.Rashmi  Kalia(HOD)  of  science  department  and  my 
teacher (Miss.harman) who gave me the golden opportunity 
to  do  this  wonderful  project  on  the  topic  (microbes  in 
human  welfare),  which  also  helped  me  in  doing  a  lot  of 
Research and i came to know about so many new things I am 
really thankful to them . 
 
  Last  but  not  least  ,  i  would  also  like  to  thank  my  parents
and  friends  who  helped  me  a  lot  in  finalizing  this  project 
within the limited time frame .   
   
 
 Table of Contents 
 
 
● what are microbes?  
● what is Microbiology?  
● Applications of Microbiology  
● Microbes in Household Products  
● Microbes as Source of Food  
● Microbes in Industrial Products  
● Fermented Beverages  
● Antibiotics  
● Chemicals, Enzymes and other Bioactive Molecules  
● Microbes in Sewage Treatment  
● Primary treatment  
● Secondary treatment or Biological treatment  
● Microbes in Production of Biogas  
● Microbes as a Biocontrol Agent  
● Biological control of pest and disease  
● Microbes as Biofertilizers  
What are Microbes?   

 
Microbes  are  available all around, in air, water, soil and so on likewis
in  extraordinary  conditions,  extremophiles  microbes  are  developed
in  media  to  develop  colonies,  seen  with  the  bare  eye.  Microbes  are
various  –  bacteria,  fungi,  protozoa,  bacteria,  fungi  and  minute  plants
viruses,  viroids  furthermore  prions  (proteinaceous  agents  o
infection)  
 
 
 

What is Microbiology?   

 
“micro”  -  (symbol  μ)  is  a  unit  prefix  in  the  metric  system  denoting  a
factor  of  10−6  (too  small  to  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye),  “Bio”  -  the
Greek  root  word  bio  means  'life.'  and  “Logy”  -logy  is  a  suffix  in  the
English language means “the study of”. 
  Microbiology  is  the  study  of  very  small  living  organisms  called
microorganisms/ microbes. 
Applications of 
Microbiology    

● Food production eg: bread  

● beverage production eg: beer  
● Microbes in biogas production  
● As biocontrol agents  
● In sewage treatment  
● Bioremediation: decontamination of hazardous wastes  
● As biofertilizers  
● As a source of food single cell protein (SCP)  
● Useful industrial products like ethanol fuel  
● production of antibiotics  
● production of amino acids  
● Genetic engineering: pharmaceuticals  
● making vaccines  
● helps in making curd  
● help in enzyme production eg: proteases,lipases,etc  
● help as insecticides  
● enhancing soil fertility 
 

(A) Microbes in 

Household Products   

 
 

 
● Micro-organisms such as Lactobacillus and others commonly called 
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) grow in milk and convert it to curd. 
➢ During growth, the LAB produce acids that coagulate and partially 
digest the milk proteins. 
➢ A small amount of curd added to the fresh milk as inoculum or starte
contain millions of LAB, which at suitable temperatures multiply, thus 
converting milk to curd, which also improves its nutritional quality by 
increasing VITAMIN B12 [helps in the synthesis of DNA and RBC (red  
blood cells). Vitamin B12 deficiency causes Anemia, severe damage  
to n .ervous system etc.] . 
➢ In our stomach too, the LAB play very beneficial role in checking 
disease-causing microbes. 
➢ sugar is converted into alcohol by yeast. This process of conversion o
sugar into alcohol is known as fermentation . Louis Pasteur discovered 
fermentation in 1857. 
➢ The dough, which is used for making foods such as dosa and idli is 
fermented by bacteria . The puffed-up appearance of dough is due to the 
production of CO2 gas which is released by the microbes. 
➢ Similarly the dough, which is used for making bread, is fermented usin
baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae ). 
➢ A number of traditional drinks and foods are also made by fermentatio
by the microbes. ‘Toddy’, a traditional drink of some parts of southern India
is made by fermenting sap from palms. 
➢ Microbes are also used to ferment fish, soyabean and bamboo- shoots
to make foods. 
➢ Cheese, is one of the oldest food items in which microbes were used. 
The large holes in ‘Swiss cheese’ are due to production of a large amount o
CO2 by a bacterium named Propionibacterium sharmanii. 

 
 
(B) Microbes as 
Source of Food   

 
It alludes to the microbial biomass or aggregate protein add up to 
separated from uncontaminated microbial cell culture 
(monoculture) and this may be utilized as a protein supplement. It is 
utilized in light of the fact that: - 
 
 
● They have high protein and low-fat substance.  
● It is a great wellspring of vitamins especially B-complex.  
● It can be created consistently.  
● Waste materials are utilized as a substrate for the generation of these 
proteins.  
● SCP life forms develop easily and quickly.  
● some common single celled proteins are : spirulina, rhodobacter 
capsulatus , chlorella , trichoderma , aspergillus oryzae etc  
 
(C) Microbes in 
Industrial Products   

 
 
● Microbes are utilized as a part of industry to combine and develop various items  
● Beverages, chemicals, natural acids, vitamins and anti-infection agents are a 
few cases.  
● Microbes are developed in huge vessels called fermenters.  
 
(1) Fermented Beverages  
 
 
● Yeasts are utilized for generation of beverages like rum, beer, wine, brew, 
whiskey, liquor or rum.  
● Saccharomyces cerevisiae ordinarily called 'brewer's yeast utilized for 
fermenting malted oats and natural product juices to deliver ethanol.  
● The sort of crude material utilized for fermentation and preparing diverse sorts 
of mixed beverages are delivered.  
● Wine and lager are delivered without distillation.  
● Whisky, rum, and brandy are delivered by distillation of the fermented soup. 
[2] Antibiotics 
 
● Antibiotics are the synthetic substances which are delivered by a few 
microbes and can kill or retard the development of different microbes.  
● The first anti-infection found is the penicillin, prepared from a fungus 
Penicillium notatum.  
● Antibiotics have extraordinarily enhanced our ability to treat dangerous 
diseases, for example, diphtheria, plague, leprosy and whooping cough. 
 

 
( 3 ) Chemicals, Enzymes and other Bioactive Molecules  
 
● Aspergillus niger (a fungus) produces citric acid.  
● Clostridium butylicum (a bacterium) deliver butyric acid.  
● Acetobacter aceti (a bacterium) gives acetic acid.  
● Lactobacillus (a bacterium) gives lactic acid.  
● Lipases are utilized as a part of cleanser delivered by microbes.  
● Pectinase, proteases, and cellulase make packaged organic product juices clearer.  
● Streptokinase delivered by Streptococcus is utilized as a 'coagulation buster', for expelling clumps 
from the veins.  
● Cyclosporin-A delivered by a fungus called Trichoderma polysporum is utilized as an 
immunosuppressive drug as a part of organ transplantation.  
● Statins delivered by Monascus purpureus are utilized as agents that lower the blood cholesterol 
levels. 

 
 
(D) Microbes in 
Sewage Treatment  
 
● The squander water is produced in urban communities and town containing 
human excreta. This metropolitan water-water is called sewage.  
● Before transfer to the common body, sewage is dealt with inside sewage 
treatment plants (STPs) to make it less contaminating.  
● Treatment is finished by heterotrophic microbes normally introduce in sewage. 
  
(1) Primary treatment  
 
● Involves the physical expulsion of particles – small and big from sewage 
through sedimentation and filtration.  
● Initially, the debris that is found floating is expelled by consecutive filtration.  
● The grit (small rock pieces and soil) are evacuated by sedimentation.  
● The solids that settle down frame the primary sludge, and the supernatant 
structures the effluents.  
● The effluents obtained from the primary or initial settling tank is further taken 
for secondary treatment. 
(2) Secondary treatment or Biological treatment  
 
● The initial effluent is passed into huge air circulation tanks.  
● This permits a vigorous development of helpful high-impact microbes into flocs.  
● The development of microbes devours the significant part of the natural matter 
in the profluent. This altogether decreases the BOD (Biochemical Oxygen 
Demand) of the profluent.  
● BOD alludes to the measure of oxygen required to oxidize total natural matter by 
bacteria that is present in one liter of water.  
● BOD is the measures of the natural matter present in the water.  
● More the BOD of the wastewater more is its contaminating potential.  
● Once the BOD of sewage is lessened essentially, the effluent is then passed into 
the settling tank where the bacterial "flocs" are permitted to settle down. This 
sediment is alluded as activated sludge.  
● Small portion of activated sludge is pumped back to air circulation tank to serve 
as the inoculums.  
● The remaining slop is pumped into anaerobic sludge digester.  
● In the anaerobic sludge digester, there are different sorts of bacteria which 
develop anaerobically and digest and process the bacteria and fungi in the 
sludge.  
● During this assimilation bacterium create biogas, (blend of methane, hydrogen 
sulfide and carbon dioxide)  
● The effluent obtained from secondary treatment plant is discharged into 
normal water body like waterways and streams.  
 
 
 

(E) Microbes in 

Production of Biogas 
 

● Biogas is a blend of gasses (overwhelmingly methane) created by the 

microbial movement and is utilized as fuel.  
● A few bacteria develop anaerobically on cellulosic material; deliver a 
huge measure of methane alongside CO2 and H2S. These bacteria togethe
are known as methanogens. One basic bacterium is Methanobacterium.  
 
This is a multistep chemical as well as a biological process that is useful in waste 
administration as well as vitality creation. There are four essential strides of 
anaerobic processing that incorporate hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, 
and methanogenesis. All through this whole procedure, vast natural polymers 
that make up Biomass are separated into smaller particles by microorganisms 
and chemicals. Towards the end of the anaerobic assimilation process, the 
Biomass is changed over into Biogas, to be specific carbondioxide and methane, 
and in addition digestate and wastewater. Biogas microbes comprise r: 
Clostridium, Pseudomonas, Methanobacillus and Methanococcous .  
(F) Microbes as a 
Biocontrol Agent   

 
 
● Biocontrol alludes to the utilization of organic techniques for controlling
plant diseases and vermin.  
● Effect of utilization of concoction, bug spray, and pesticide to control 
disease and vermin :-   
● These chemicals are dangerous and to a  
great degree destructive to People and  
creatures. 
● Polluting our surroundings (soil, ground  
water), natural products, andvegetables.  
● Soil is contaminated through utilization of 
weedicides to evacuate weeds. 
 
 
Biological control 
of pest and disease   

 
 
● Use of biocontrol measures will extraordinarily diminish our reliance on lethal 
concoction and pesticides.  
● The Dragonflies and Ladybird are utilized to dispose of aphids and mosquitoes.  
● Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are used to control caterpillars of butterfly.  
● Spores that have been dried are blended with water and showered onto powerless pla
where these are eaten by the larvae of insects.  
● In the gut of the hatchlings, the poison is discharged and the hatchlings die.  
● Trichoderma, a free-living fungus is used to control a few plant pathogens.  
● Baculoviruses are pathogen that assault different arthropods and insects.  
● The greater part of baculoviruses utilized as organic control specialists are in the fam
Nucleopolyhedrovirus.  
● These viruses are an excellent contender for narrow- range, species- specific 
insecticidal application.  
● They have no negative effects on plants, warm-blooded creatures, fowls, fishes, and s
forth.  
● This is exceptionally useful in integrated pest managements (IPM). 
 
(G) Microbes as 
Biofertilizers 
 

Bioferilizers are the living organisms that supplement nature of the soil
.Important biofertilizers include fungi, bacteria, and cyanobacteria.  
 
● Rhizobium frame root knobs in leguminous plants and fixes nitrogen present in 
the air.  
● Azospirilium and Azotobacter are free-living bacteria that fix nitrogen present in 
the atmosphere and in this way expanding nitrogen content of soil.  
● Mycorrhiza: fungi that are symbiotically connected with the roots of the plants.   
 
● Mycorrhiza :-  
● Provide phosphorus present in the soil to the plants.  
● Make the plant impervious to the root-borne pathogen.  
● Increase resistance to drought and salinity.  
● Cyanobacteria like Nostoc, Anabaena, and Oscillatoria and so on :-  
● Fix air nitrogen.  
● Add natural matter to the soil and Increase soil fertility  
Preservatives 
● Salts and edible oils are the common chemicals generally used to check 
the growth of microorganisms. Therefore they are called preservatives . We 
add salt or acid preservatives to pickles to prevent the attack of microbes. 
Sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulphite are common preservatives. 
These are also used in the jams and squashes to check their spoilage. 
● Common salt has been used to preserve meat and fish for ages. Meat and 
fish are covered with dry salt to check the growth of bacteria. Salting is also 
used to preserve amla, raw mangoes, tamarind, etc. 
● Jams, jellies and squashes are preserved by sugar. Sugar reduces the 
moisture content which inhibits the growth of bacteria which spoil food. 
● Use of oil and vinegar prevents spoilage of pickles because bacteria 
cannot live in such an environment. Vegetables, fruits, fish and meat are often 
preserved by this method. 
● Pasteurized milk can be consumed without boiling as it is free from 
harmful microbes. The milk is heated to about 700 C for 15 to 30 seconds and 
then suddenly chilled and stored. By doing so, it prevents the growth of 
microbes. This process was discovered by Louis Pasteur . It is called 
pasteurization 
Summary 
 
● Microbes are a very important component of life on earth. Not all 
microbes are pathogenic. Many microbes are very useful to human beings
● We use microbes and microbially derived products almost every day. 
● Bacteria called lactic acid bacteria (LAB) grow in milk to convert it into
curd. 
● The dough, which is used to make bread, is fermented by yeast called 
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 
● Certain dishes such as idli and dosa, are made from dough fermented
by microbes. 
● Bacteria and fungi are used to impart particular texture, taste and 
flavor to cheese. 
● Microbes are used to produce industrial products like lactic acid, 
acetic acid and alcohol, which are used in a variety of processes in the 
industry. 
● Antibiotics like penicillins produced by useful microbes are used to ki
disease-causing harmful microbes. 
● Antibiotics have played a major role in controlling infectious diseases
like diphtheria, whooping cough and pneumonia. 
● For more than a hundred years, microbes are being used to treat 
sewage (waste water) by the process of activated sludge formation and th
helps in recycling of water in nature. 
● Methanogens produce methane (biogas) while degrading plant waste.
● Biogas produced by microbes is used as a source of energy in rural 
areas. 
● Microbes can also be used to kill harmful pests, a process called as 
biocontrol. 
● The biocontrol measures help us to avoid heavy use of toxic pesticide
for controlling pests.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References :- 
1. Bacteria: the Benign, the Bad, and the Beautiful by Trudy M. Wassenaar 
2. The Infectious Microbe by Bill Firshein 
3. Microbes: An Invisible Universe by Howard Gest 
4. Microbes: Health and Environment by Ashok K. Chauhan (Editor); Ajit  
5. Varma (Editor) 
6. Xamidea Editorial Board VK Global Publications, 02-Jul-2020 
7. Microbes and Evolution: The World that Darwin Never Saw by Roberto 
Kolter (Editor); Stanley Maloy (Editor) 
8. Microbes from Hell by Patrick Forterre; Teresa Lavender Fagan 
(Translator) 
9. Understanding Microbes: An Introduction to a Small World by Jeremy W. 
Dale