Current and Future Implications of Industrial Microbiology

Current and Future Implications of Industrial Microbiology

Over many years Microbiology has been utilised and applied to many useful areas of day to day life. Within this brief overview of the industrialisation of Microbiology a few well know topics will be discussed. Topics such as the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 with its application to fighting bacterial infections to its overuse in modern times and ways in which research is trying to fight anti-biotic resistance. How yeast is used in many different ways to provide not only food and drink but help the fight against cancer. As-well as how the discovery of vaccination has helped the fight against disease and aid in the eradication of many deadly pathogens.

The antibiotic Penicillin, which is derived from the fungi Penicillium, has been used to treat staphylococci and streptococci bacterial infections for many years since its original discovery by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1929. The discovery was made accidently when Fleming apparently left the lid of a Petri Dish which had contained Staphylococcus bacteria near an open window and a visible mould had formed in the dish. Fleming then found an inhibited bacterial growth around the mould and concluded that the mould must have released a substance causing the bacteria to be broken down. From this Fleming grew a pure culture of the mould and found it to be Penicillium mould and named it Penicillin (Bud-Robert, 2009). The drug went on to be industrialised during the Second World War by Andrew Jackson Moyer where it was seen to reduce the number of cases of Syphilis, a wide-spread disease at the time, by nearly 95% (Morse 1995). However over the years due to its wide spread production and availability many bacterial strains have become resistant to antibiotics such as Penicillin (S. H. Gillespie, 2001). This resistance arises mainly from misuse and self-prescription where in the majority of cases antibiotics are not needed to treat the illness. From this overuse many strains and species of bacteria have become immune to the effects of antibiotics and have now become known as Super-Bugs where they can contribute to the development of disease whereas before they could be usually controlled and monitored (Larson, 2007).

Due to the increased antibiotic-resistance to pathogens worldwide it has started to become more difficult to treat a number of infectious diseases. Research has now begun to look at Bacteriocins which are small antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that inhibit the growth of similar or closely related bacterial strains. They are looking to become a very promising tool in the fight against antibiotic resistance because of their rapid and specific killing activity against certain pathogens (M. Hassan et al, 2012). Several studies carried out on animal subjects have showed that Bacteriocins may hold the potential to be beneficial cures. It has been shown that Lantibiotics