by Keiron Audain

Created on: July 04, 2008   Last Updated: September 25, 2009

Microorganisms - Knowing our enemies and keeping our friends close.

When placed in context of the actual number of microorganisms in existence, those that cause disease in humans are relatively minimal. In fact, the majority of microbes are of great benefit to humanity, even in providing therapeutic interventions to treat and prevent diseases that are caused by other microbes.

With respects to Microbiology, what the twentieth century has revealed is the need to continue to expand on the existing knowledge of microbes, with the objective of harnessing the potential of those that are of benefit, and creating the environment in which those that are of detriment to human life can no longer thrive.

At the beginning of the 20th century, diseases due to microbe infection were the leading cause of death throughout the world, yet life as we know it today has seen infectious diseases to a large extent quarantined to the poorest regions on the globe. Apart from the advancement of pharmaceutical intervention in disease treatment and prevention, what has actually been the major catalyst for the shifting from infectious diseases to "lifestyle diseases" (e.g. cancers and heart disease) as the leading cause of death, is an improvement in the quality of life of people living in regions now referred to as the developed world. This improvement ranges from better housing and water sanitation, the ability to earn higher incomes per household, and the ability to develop a greater understanding of the body's nutritional requirements along with access to high quality food sources. Yet what has also drastically improved the developed world's response to infectious disease is greater understanding of the life cycles of microbial agents, which has seen their impact on health and mortality reduced to a substantial minimum in many parts of the world.

A clear-cut example of utilizing the potential of microbes is the rising demand for sustainable bio-fuel production. The use of butanol as a petrol substitute, tipped to surpass its predecessor ethanol due to its potential to store more energy, has long been known to be produced by the bacteria Clostridium acetobutylicum via sugar fermentation. This process has since been optimized and has seen major investments by the biotechnology industry, with the intention of significantly up-scaling butanol production within the next few years. This method of bio-fuel production can also assist in removing the edge off the alternative energy industry,

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