1. Microbes can be beneficial to us?!?
Useful Microbes
Microbes can be beneficial to us?!?

2. Useful Microbes
There are billions of microbes and lots more we haven’t discovered yet
Most of these microbes are either
Necessary for our survival
Good for us
Can be used for our benefit in industry

3. In Nature Microbe – plant Interaction
Many microbes are found in nature and help plants to grow
Rhizobacteria found in the soil fixate nitrogen which is required for many crops to grow
Roots
Microbes

4. In Nature Oxygen production
Cyanobacteria or ‘blue-green algae’ produce oxygen in the ocean

5. In Nature Decomposition
Defined as the breakdown of raw organic materials to a finished compost
The fungi invade the organic matter in soils first and are then followed by bacteria.
Without this recycling of inorganic nutrients, primary productivity on the globe would stop.

6. In the Food Industry Cheese and yogurt Bread and dough products
Lactic acid fermentation produces yogurt and cheese. Some fungi are also used to make the cheese turn blue!
Bread and dough products
Yeast is used to make bread and dough products.
Alcohol Production
Yeast is also used in alcohol production when fermentation occurs without air
Lactobacilli bacteria used in yogurt and cheese making
Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast used in bread making and alcohol production

7. In the Food Industry Fermentation
A process during which the bacteria break down the complex sugars into simple compounds like carbon dioxide and alcohol.
Fermentation changes the product from one food to another.

8. The fungus Penicillium produces the antibiotic Penicillin
In Medicine
Penicillin
Discovered by Alexander Flemming in 1928
Produced by the fungus Penicillium notatum
One of the most commonly used antibiotics today
Vaccines
Discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796
Usually made from weak or inactive versions of the same microbes that make us ill
The fungus Penicillium produces the antibiotic Penicillin

9. Probiotics What are they?
Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amount confer a health benefit on the host
What type of bacteria are they?
Lactobacilli which are part of the beneficial natural microflora found in the human gut

10. Probiotics How do they work?
Interacting directly with the disease-causing microbes, making it harder for them to cause disease
Reinforce the natural barrier of the digestive tract protecting against pathogenic microbes
"Competitive exclusion" in which beneficial microbes directly compete with disease-causing microbes for food and other resources, eventually crowding them out
Interacting with and strengthening the immune system