Microbiology used in food and biotechnology areas

Eva Daniela Melo Guerrero A01636086

After reading and watching the paper and videos in the Learn about... Application of
microbiology and biotechnology, complete the following table including the description of
each activity and examples (images and/or videos) where microbiology is used in the food
and biotechnology areas.

However, it’s necessary to comprehend some important terms such as microbiology and
biotechnology. For this reason, microbiology is defined as the study of all living organisms
that are too small for the eyes to perceive. Also these organisms can be bacterias, microbes
and other microorganisms and they’re necessary because their versatility can help to
produce different things such as biotechnology, food spoilage, processing food, drinks and
many others. (Microbiology Society, n.d.) While biotechnology is based on biology and
technology, it harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and
products that help to improve our lives and health. (O’brien, 1991)

Microbiology area Description of activity Examples (images, videos)

Food area: According to Kumawat (2021), the Some examples of these

Fermented dairy process of fermentation requires foods are milk, cheese, yogurt
products lactic acid, meaning that is using and many others.
bacterias such as Lactobacillus, Also, there is more
Lactococcus and Leuconostoc. information about the process
These bacterias make another and products made from
process that helps to increase the fermented dairy
shelf life of the product. Also it https://www.youtube.com/wat
elevates the flavor and the ch?v=2pd3-hOFhRg
digestibility of its milk.
However, in the article New
perspectives in fermented dairy
products and their health
relevance (2020) mentions that
daily products are from lactic acid
bacteria (LAB) fermentation by
the addition of suitable and
harmless microorganisms. Also, https://www.livestrong.com/art
using LAB may reduce toxic or icle/355913-list-of-fermented-
antinutritional facts such as milk-products/
lactose and galactose. In addition,
depending on the LAB its the
product to obtain.

Food area: Kumawat (2021) says that
Alcohol beverages Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(Yeasts) is the main fermentor
and alcohol producer in the
production of alcohol beverages.
This process consists in the
fermentation of sugars that come
from different sources.
Wine and beer are the main
beverages produced by the
fermentation of sugar and
other components, depending
on the process used.
Also, there is more
information about this process
in the following pages
 Also, according to Gordon (2023) https://www.youtube.com/wat
mentions that alcoholic beverages ch?v=yKoo54ZphV4
are made by fermenting grains,
fruits and vegetables. This
process creates ethanol by
distilling and other processes.
In addition, in the article Rapid
microbiological methods for the
brewing industry says that the
process of producing alcohol https://www.rapidmicrobiology.
requires microorganisms that are com/news/rapid-microbiologic
selected to maintain the flavor al-methods-for-brewing-indust
and other characteristics such as ry
conservation. For this process
technology is used to make an
accurate process by adding
anaerobic plates and incubating
the amount of time necessary for
creating colonies and identifying
the type of microorganism. (n.d.)

Food area: According to the article The For a better comprehension of

Bread sourdough microbiome says the this, there are some examples
live microorganisms produces the like
flavor and shelf life, because of https://www.youtube.com/wat
symbiotic microbial community ch?v=4cj9UMaSxeM
blooms. (2020) and
The same way in the article
Fermentation foods - bread
mentions that microorganisms
can help to obtain two important
things such as a gas to leaven the https://ecampusontario.pressb
dough, giving it the desired loose, ooks.pub/microbio/chapter/wh
porous texture, and produce at-our-ancestors-knew/
flavorful substances. This can
happen with the fermentation of
sugar, lactic acid and other
bacterias that makes the effect to
have a bigger size or to obtain a
better taste. (2022)

Biotechnology According to LumenLearning, Examples of the application in

area: medicine is an area of medicine is the discovery of
Medicine biotechnology, because of the gene therapy and insulin.
medical purposes that it has such
as the knowledge of genetic
diseases that can be manipulated
to prevent a worse thing or it can
be fixed by mutated genes. The
same way, it can help to get the
right dose of some medicines,
improve drug and pharmaceutics.
Also it is important to understand
that microorganisms are obtained https://bio.libretexts.org/Books
 from different sources and
analyzed to determine the effect
that can have in humans. (2018)
Also, Pham says that
biotechnology helps to prevent,
diagnose and treat different
diseases with genome editing or
using other technologies like
studying polymerase chain
reaction, gene sequencing,
fluorescence in situ hybridization,
microarrays, cell culture or gene
silencing using interference RNA.
(2018)
helves/Introductory_and_Gen
eral_Biology/Book%3A_Gene
ral_Biology_(Boundless)/17%
3A_Biotechnology_and_Geno
mics/17.01%3A_Biotechnolog
y/17.1G%3A_Biotechnology_i
n_Medicine
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=daujWhzF5RU

Biotechnology In agriculture it has been modified Some examples of this area

area: their cells or DNA to obtain better are the following
Agriculture results, also to get something https://www.youtube.com/wat
more innovative in the herbicide ch?v=_T0Pzh88lHw
tolerance and insect resistance.
(Gutterson, 2014)
Also Agricultural biotechnology
has some genetically modified
organisms (GMO) that can be
found in plants, microorganisms
or other things, because of the
modified DNA. This helps to make
up a large percentage of the crop https://www.thoughtco.com/ag
grown or to satisfy needs, like ricultural-biotechnology-exam
taste or get a beneficial gene, like ples-375753
insect resistance or drought
tolerance, and transfer it into a
plant. (n.d.)

Biotechnology Biofuels are made from the Biofuels are important in

area: process of using microbes to different areas for this reason
Biofuels break complex organic materials, is better to comprehend what
later doing fermentation to obtain happens to create this
the ethanol and butanol or using product
microalgae or lignocellulosic https://www.youtube.com/wat
biomass. (Microbiology Society, ch?v=oQqlsk3cuWY
n.d.)
In addition Qin says that
biotechnology has been exploring
lignocellulosic biomass and they
have identified microbial species
and enzymes responsible for
biomass breakdown. Additionally,
genetic engineering techniques https://engineeringsadvice.co
have been used to enhance the m/ja/biofuels-biotechnology/
capabilities of microbes and
improve the efficiency of biomass
conversion. (2023)
 References
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Casselbury, K. (2011, January 14). Stock up on these 5 fermented dairy foods for good gut
health. Livestrong.com.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/355913-list-of-fermented-milk-products/
Competent, B. [@biocompetent7715]. (2020, october 24). Microbiology of bread | basics of
bread making | food microbiology. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cj9UMaSxeM
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pd3-hOFhRg
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https://engineeringsadvice.com/ja/biofuels-biotechnology/
Fermentation foods - bread. (2022, november 26). Microbiology Note – Online Biology
Notes. https://microbiologynote.com/fermentation-foods-bread/
Fermented alcoholic beverages | food technology lecture. (2020, may 11). Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKoo54ZphV4
García-Burgos, M., Moreno-Fernández, J., Alférez, M. J. M., Díaz-Castro, J., &
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Gordon, C. (2023, april 21). Different types of alcohol: Examples, cocktails, calories.
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https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/microbio/chapter/what-our-ancestors-knew/
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https://microbiologysociety.org/why-microbiology-matters/what-is-microbiology/microbes-and
-climate-change/microbes-and-biofuels.html
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