Question

Describe the role of microorganisms in industrial production.

Answer 1

Hint: Microorganisms are the microscopic organisms that exist as unicellular organisms or multicellular organisms or in the form of colonies of cells etc. When compared to animal cells, micro-organisms are about ${\dfrac{1}{10}}^{th}$ the size of a human cell.

Complete answer:
Today microorganisms are used in various fields such as medicine, production of food items, in manufacturing industries, keeping the environment clean, in cosmetics etc. The role of microorganisms in industry is given below.
1. Bacteria such as Lactobacillus and yeast and yeast such as Candida milleri are used in the fermentation of whisky, bread, beer and other bakery products.
2. In the biogas mixture, methane is the predominant gas. Under anaerobic conditions, certain bacteria produce huge amounts of methane gas along with hydrogen and carbon dioxide. These bacteria that are involved in the production of biogas mixture are collectively called methanogens.
3. In industries, various antibiotics are produced by the process of fermentation. In this process, the source bacteria are cultured in a large container that contains a liquid growth medium.
4. Citric acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, itaconic acid etc are produced by the fermentation of microbes.Production of acetic acid in the form of vinegar by microbial action is one of the important food applications.
5. Many industrial enzymes are produced by a variety of plants, animals and microbes. The microbial enzymes are produced by the submerged anaerobic respiration. It has greater control over the growth factors compared to solid state methodes.

Note: Though there are a lot of applications of microbes, there are certain disadvantages like rotting and decomposition of food, tooth decay, microbes like fungi are responsible for causing plant diseases like red rot in sugarcane, fruit rot in apples, and skin diseases like ringworm. Certain microbial bacteria cause diseases such as typhoid, malaria, cholera, meningitis, tuberculosis, chicken pox, syphilis etc.