10 BENEFITS OF MICROORGANISMS FOR HUMANS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2024

The benefits of microorganisms for humans are multiple. From applications in the food industry, to solid waste degradation processes or the development of vaccines and medical advances.

Microbes or microorganisms are small microscopic entities that can be classified into different groups, such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, microalgae, and viruses. They live in soil, water, food, and the intestines of animals, among other means.

Humans have used microorganisms in different industries, such as food or agriculture, where fermented foods such as beer, yogurt, and cheese can be produced, or microorganisms can be used to release nitrogen from the soil that plants need to grow..

Not all microorganisms are beneficial for human life, there are some organisms that limit food production or stay in animals and plants generating diseases.

In the human body, different microorganisms are responsible for contributing to different processes, such as digestion and defense of other invasive organisms in a complex process that is reflected in the natural course of a disease.

Microorganisms are beneficial in different industries and contribute to multiple biological processes that take place inside the human body.

List of benefits of microorganisms for humans

1- Food industry

Microorganisms are used in the production of fermented foods and beverages. Fungi like yeast or bacteria like lactobacilli are essential in the food industry.

The fermentation process that leads to the production of acid-based alcoholic beverages or dairy products takes place when microorganisms obtain energy from food cells without the need to take in oxygen. In other words, the fermentation process allows the breakdown of complex organic substances.

Foods like cheese, olives, cold cuts, chocolate, bread, wine, beer, and soy sauce are made with the help of different types of bacteria and yeasts.

In most of these products, bacteria play a fundamental role. They are responsible for producing lactic acid, a substance that allows the preservation of food.

2- Medicine and science

Microorganisms also have significant potential in the field of medicine and science. They are generally used industrially for the production of antibiotics, vaccines and insulin. As well as to make the diagnosis of certain diseases.

In medicine, bacteria are used to produce thousands of antibiotics. Bacterial species like Streptomyces are responsible for the production of more than 500 different antibiotics. Similarly, there are antibiotics produced from fungi and other types of bacteria.

The name antibiotic means "against life." This name is due to the fact that the main role of these compounds is to attack bacteria and other unicellular organisms that can be pathogenic for humans.

Most of the antibiotics used today were discovered by observing the spread of fungi on decomposing animals.

3- Waste treatment

Microorganisms play a vital role in the management and disposal of domestic and industrial waste. They are responsible for cleaning the waste through a biological process of decomposition or stabilization of organic matter. This decomposition process is as old as life on planet Earth.

The controlled biological decomposition process is known as composting. The final product thrown by this process is called compost. It can be classified as anaerobic compost when organic matter is decomposed from the use of fungi, bacteria and protozoa.

Microorganisms are responsible for breaking down matter by raising its temperature and producing carbon dioxide. In this way, a substance called humus is generated that has an appearance similar to that of the land to cultivate.

4- Microflora

There are billions of bacteria that inhabit the digestive system of humans. It is estimated that one kilogram of each person's body weight is made up of bacteria known as microflora. These bacteria are responsible for breaking down the remains of food that have not been previously processed and digested.

The microflora is also responsible for defending the body from fungi and bacteria harmful to human health. It produces vitamin K, which is necessary to regulate blood clotting processes.

The human body can host 400 different types of bacteria species, some of them are uniquely beneficial and others are potentially harmful.

It is essential that there is a balance between these two types of microorganisms to ensure the sustainability of life. The beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines are known as probiotics and can be obtained commercially when the body fails to preserve them.

5- Air

Air is mainly made up of gases, dust particles, and water vapor. However, it also contains microorganisms in the form of vegetative cells, spores, fungi, algae, viruses, and protozoan cysts.

Air is not a medium in which microorganisms can grow, but it is responsible for transporting them along with particulate matter. However, the number of microorganisms found in the air is considerably less than what can be found in land or water.

Microbes found in the air are responsible for the breakdown of dead cells shed from human skin. If these microorganisms did not exist, the world would be full of mountains of dead skin.

6- Biotechnology

Biotechnology is the branch of science that deals with the manipulation of living organisms through genetic engineering. It has multiple applications in the life sciences and is directly dependent on microorganisms.

Microbial biotechnology is responsible for the study of genomes, which allows improving vaccines and developing better tools for diagnosing diseases.

Advances in microbial biotechnology have allowed the control of pests in animals and plants, based on the development of catalytic agents for pathogens and fermentation organisms. All this has allowed the bio-repair of soils and water contaminated mainly by agricultural processes.

In general, microorganisms, in conjunction with biotechnology, have allowed the development of alternative energy sources, biofuels, bioalcohols and research for the field of agriculture.

7- Agriculture

The microorganisms that live in the soil allow improving agricultural productivity. Human beings use organisms naturally to develop fertilizers and biopesticides.

The objective pursued with the development of these substances is to contribute to plant growth and control pests, weed growth and other diseases.

These microorganisms present in the soil allow plants to absorb more nutrients as sources of energy necessary to live. Plants, in turn, give their waste to microorganisms so that they feed on them and generate biofertilizers.

The agricultural industry has used microorganisms for the last hundred years to generate biofertilizers and biopesticides.

In this way, plant foods can be grown in a controlled and safe way, blocking potential environmental threats and contributing to the acceleration of natural processes such as the release of nitrogen from the soil.

8- Evolution

Life as it is known today exists thanks to the evolution of millions of microorganisms that changed the structure of the world and gave rise to complex life forms.

These microorganisms are known as cyanobacteria and were responsible for the development of aerobic conditions in the primitive soil, allowing the photosynthesis process to be possible. This change in conditions led to the development of life and its evolution over millions of years.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms that developed millions of years ago. Some theories suggest that, thanks to the global cooling process, a series of complex chemical reactions took place in the water.

For millions of years these chemical reactions allowed bacteria to develop nucleic acid, and protein, taking the form of more complex particles. Eventually these new primitive particles coalesced and gave way to the formation of cells that later became new life forms.

9- Environment

Microorganisms are present anywhere in the biosphere and their presence affects the environment in which they coexist. These effects of microorganisms in the environment can be beneficial, harmful or neutral according to the standards imposed by human observation.

The benefits derived from the action of microorganisms take place thanks to their metabolic activities in the environment. Activities carried out in relation to plants and animals, from which they take their energy to carry out biological processes.

In this way, there is the concept of biorepair, consisting of the elimination of toxic materials for the environment, such as oil spills in water or land.

The processes of biofiltration and transformation of toxic materials are only possible by the action of microorganisms, since most of the particles that pollute the environment can be decomposed by different types of bacteria.

10- Body balance

The most complex communities of microorganisms located in the human body have the power to balance or unbalance it. For this reason, compounds such as probiotics have been developed to administer necessary doses of beneficial bacteria that allow the regulation of internal body processes.

There are biological therapies in which material from the intestine of one patient is inserted into another in order to regulate the number of bacteria contained in the intestine. In this way, the number of microorganisms necessary to carry out vital processes in the body is balanced.

References

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