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Teaching Resources

Microbial Gifts

Plastic, a group of synthetic materials made from organic polymers, is widespread in nature and poses risks to wildlife and humans. While natural polymers like cellulose and chitin can be broken down by microorganisms using specialized enzymes, plastic remains largely resistant. Some microbes have evolved to degrade plastic, offering hope for solutions to plastic pollution. However, their enzymes are not yet efficient enough to tackle the large-scale plastic waste problem. While microbial enzymes hold potential for biotechnological solutions, careful evaluation is needed to balance environmental benefits with our reliance on durable plastics.

Plastic-degrading microbes

Why is there so much plastic in nature, but dead trees and animals disappear?

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In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered a fungus that produced a chemical capable of killing bacteria, marking the start of antibiotics. Since then, antibiotics have been found in various microorganisms and plants, transforming infectious disease treatment. Microorganisms and plants also yield medicines for conditions like cancer. However, bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics, posing a future challenge for treating infections and necessitating ongoing discovery of new antibiotics. Historically, soil microorganisms like Streptomyces and fungi have been major sources of antibiotics, but repeated screening often rediscovers known compounds. Exploring non-soil microorganisms may uncover truly new antibiotics. Oceans cover 70% of the globe and 95% of the biosphere, hosting microorganisms adapted to salt, high pressure, and low nutrients. They also contain halogens like bromide and iodine, suggesting marine bacteria produce different chemicals from terrestrial ones. Therefore, exploring marine bacteria for novel antibiotics and drugs is a growing research and commercial area.

New Medicines from Microbes of the Oceans

The sea gives us fish for food and water for swimming; do we get other useful things from the ocean?

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Cells are surrounded by a membrane made of lipids and proteins, which separates the cytoplasm from the environment. Some proteins naturally move to the membrane, decorating the cell's surface. Microbial surface display involves fusing a chosen protein to these membrane proteins, so it extends into the environment. This technique is valuable in biotechnology for creating protein therapeutics, enhancing enzymes, and developing diagnostic tests. Surface display is beneficial because it allows easier assessment of protein activity, speeding up the identification of the best variants. This accelerates biotechnology projects, contributing to health and environmental solutions, and supporting sustainable development goals.

Microbial Surface-Display

Mommy- are microbes smooth like a beach ball
or rough like a tennis ball?

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Proteins play crucial roles in living organisms, yet their small size makes them challenging to study. Fortunately, some proteins exhibit fluorescence or produce colorful compounds, making them easily observable. These properties are naturally present in many organisms and have been instrumental in microbiology research for years. Reporter proteins, endowed with fluorescence or luminescence, can be fused with other proteins of interest. This fusion helps illuminate the intricacies of microorganisms and molecular biology, facilitating the development of biosensors for detecting pollutants or diagnosing diseases.

Study Tools: Glowing and colourful proteins

Granddad, is it true that scientists make bacteria glow by using spare parts from a jellyfish?

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Our ability to respond to food, water contamination, and diseases relies on effective diagnostics. These tools detect specific molecules, nucleic acid sequences, proteins, and toxins in both environmental samples and within our bodies, providing vital hazard information. Diagnostics employ various microbiological methods to convert these analytes into easily interpretable outputs like color changes or digital readings. Used correctly, diagnostics ensure safe food and water, aid in medical diagnosis and treatment, and help control infectious diseases such as COVID-19. As 'point-of-care' diagnostics become more common—tests conducted where the patient is located—it's important to manage their disposal responsibly to avoid environmental impacts. The use of diagnostics thus significantly influences Sustainable Development Goals.

Diagnostics

Miss: Why do they take my blood when I go to the doctor?

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Photo by Kamaji Ogino: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-ethnic-daughter-injecting-mother-withtoy-syringe-5094090/

We often categorize microbes as "good" or "bad." Good microbes, or our microbiota, live on and in our bodies, aiding our immune system, nutrition, and protection against harmful pathogens. Most microbes we encounter are either beneficial or neutral, but pathogens can sometimes invade, evade the immune system, and produce harmful toxins. The line between good and bad microbes is blurred, as our microbiota can cause harm if the immune system is weakened, and some pathogens can reside unnoticed. The outcome depends on both the microbe and the host. Interestingly, some pathogen toxins can be turned to beneficial uses.

Applications of microbial toxins and virulence factors

Mummy, Aunt Sarah used to have those funny lines between her eyes and look grumpy, but now they are gone. What happened?

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Microorganisms thrive in harsh environments like salt lakes by producing compatible solutes, which retain water and protect against stress. These solutes shield proteins, membranes, and cells from heat, dryness, freezing, thawing, and radiation. Ectoine, a key compatible solute, is used in sunscreens, cosmetics, and anti-inflammatory products due to its protective properties. It may also prevent amyloid protein misfolding linked to Alzheimer's and prion diseases and enhance vaccine stability for longer storage and transport without refrigeration.

Compatible Solutes: Our and Their Protectants

Mummy: why do you smear cream on your face every day?

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels Photo by Shiny Diamond from Pexels

A crucial part of forensic investigation is identifying evidence at a crime scene, including witnesses, fingerprints, DNA, and trace evidence. Trace evidence, like dirt from a suspect's shoe or fibers from their clothing, can link them to the crime scene. Recently, investigators have explored using microbiomes for identification. Humans shed millions of unique microbial cells into their environment, making microbes a promising tool for tracking and profiling, similar to fingerprints and DNA. This could become a valuable resource in forensic science.

Microbial Forensics

My microbiome is unlike anyone else’s, and there is evidence to prove it.

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Food protection is essential to keep our meals free from physical, chemical, or biological contaminants, which can enter the food supply unintentionally or through criminal adulteration, turning a "treat" into a "trick." Food adulteration results in billions of dollars in losses and public health risks, often involving harmful ingredients added for profit or malicious purposes like bioterrorism. Fortunately, many prevention strategies exist, such as analyzing food microbiomes to identify "microbial signatures" and ensure authenticity. How do scientists verify if a food product is genuine? Is that expensive cheese with Designation of Origin authentic, or was it carelessly made elsewhere?

Food authentication by microbiome analysis

Mummy: how can daddy possibly like that smelly cheese?

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Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Amino acids and vitamins are essential for life. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, crucial as enzymes or structural components in all cells. While vitamins are needed in small amounts, they play key roles in metabolic reactions. Humans and animals must obtain eight essential amino acids and most vitamins from their diet since they cannot produce them internally. Shortages of these essential nutrients can occur, requiring supplementation. Industrial processes utilize microorganisms to produce nearly all amino acids and some vitamins. For example, the production of L-lysine, a feed additive, amounts to several million tons annually. Adding biotechnologically produced amino acids to vegetable feed not only enhances feed efficiency but also benefits the environment.

Food supplements: amino acids and vitamins

Mummy: we heard of a nasty disease of sailors in the olden days called scurvy: what is it?

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Providing sustainably produced, healthy food for the growing global population is a challenge. Fish and shellfish are high-quality protein sources, but wild catches have stagnated since the late 1980s. Fortunately, aquaculture, which now supplies half of our fish, can meet this demand with lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to livestock farming. However, infectious diseases, mostly bacterial, significantly impact aquaculture. Antibiotics, commonly used to control these diseases, lead to antibiotic resistance, posing a threat to both fish and human health. The WHO has identified antibiotic resistance as a major global issue. Vaccination has successfully reduced antibiotic use in some fish species, but it is ineffective for fish larvae and shellfish, which lack developed immune systems. Probiotics, beneficial microorganisms that improve health by providing nutrients, boosting immunity, or inhibiting pathogens, offer a promising alternative for disease control in aquaculture.

Aquaculture: Disease Control in Fish Farming based on Probiotics

Mommy: do fish get sick like us? And how do we cure them?

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In a world in which the gut microbiome and its relationship with human health is a hot topic, fermented foods are becoming increasingly popular, with consumption increasing 149% in 2018 according to FORBES. But fermented foods are not just associated with a healthier gut: fermentation can also create flavors that cannot be accomplished any other way. According to the Rockefeller University, “fermentation is a culinary exploitation of a microbial system”. Even more, fermented foods are rich in nutrients, have a longer shelf-life, and display unique textures and organoleptic properties. Nevertheless, fermented foods must be manufactured and stored in a controlled environment to ensure safety, quality and constant organoleptic properties in the final product. Fermented foods are associated with multiple sustainable development goals.

Fermented foods

How can bacteria turn something liquid, like milk, into something solid, like yogurt?

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Photo by Gustavo Fring (Pexels)

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