Putting Bacteria to Work
- By Peter Tyson
- Posted 12.30.10
- NOVA scienceNOW
We may think of bacteria only as something to avoid like the plague. But these single-celled organisms have proven extremely useful to science, medicine, and industry. And with genetic engineering, which enables researchers to transfer traits from one microbe to another or even create entirely new organisms, their usefulness is rapidly mounting. In this slide show, see why you should be thanking these microscopic creatures for everything from the medicines you take to the foods you eat, from the waste you generate to the gold you wear.
Bacteria help us in all kinds of ways, from fermenting foods to aiding medicine, cleaning oil spills to mining minerals.
Sources
General
Carlson, Robert H. 2010. Biology Is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fumento, Michael. 2003. Bioevolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World. San Francisco: Encounter Books.
Grace, Eric S. 1997. Biotechnology Unzipped. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.
Virtual Museum of Bacteria. A website of the Foundation of Bacteriology and the Society for Applied Microbiology. www.bacteriamuseum.org/
Fermenting foods
Wassenaar, Dr. T.M. 2005. "Good bacteria in food." From the Virtual Museum of Bacteria website. 8 March 2005.
http://bacteriamuseum.org/cms/Food-And-Water-Safety/good-bacteria-in-food.html
Making lumber
Chung, Sandra. 2010. "INL scientists help harness bacteria power to brew eco-friendly plastic from waste." Idaho National Laboratory press article, 11 October 2010.
https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID;=1269&mode;=2&featurestory;=DA_561588
Aiding medicine
Anonymous. 2009. "Genetically engineered bacteria are sweet success against inflammatory bowel disease." ScienceDaily, 21 August 2009.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090820204456.htm
Anonymous. 2005. "Bacteria modified to combat HIV." BBC News, 13 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4692905.stm
Venere, Emil. 2007. "Bacteria ferry nanoparticles into cells for early diagnosis, treatment." Purdue University press release, 13 June 2007. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070613BashirSmartnano.html
Advancing nanotech
Anonymous. 2008. "Putting bacteria to work as tiny weavers of nanoscale biomaterials." Nanotechnology website, 11 November 2008.
www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8590
Fountain, Henry. 2009. "Working as a team, bacteria spin gears." The New York Times, 22 December 2009. www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22obgear.html
Powering fuel cells
Anonymous. 2009. "Harnessing bacterial production of nanomagnets." Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory press release, 30 September 2009.
www.als.lbl.gov/als/science/sci_archive/193nanomagnets.html
Producing biofuels
Biello, David. 2010. "Biofuel from bacteria." Scientific American, April 2010, 21-22.
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=biofuel-from-bacteria
Steen, Eric J. et al. 2010. "Microbial production of fatty-acid-derived fuels and chemicals from biomass." Nature: 463, 559-562, 28 January 2010. www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/abs/nature08721.html
Cleaning oil spills
Biello, David. 2010. "Slick solution: How microbes will clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill." Scientific American, 25 May 2010.
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-microbes-clean-up-oil-spills
Credits
Images:
- (Fermenting foods)
- © Olga Nayashkova/iStockphoto
- (Combatting pests)
- © Tomas Bercic/iStockphoto
- (Making lumber)
- © Christopher O Driscoll/iStockphoto
- (Aiding medicine)
- © Rey Rojo/iStockphoto
- (Serving science)
- © dra_schwartz/iStockphoto
- (Advancing nanotech)
- © Guillermo Lobo/iStockphoto
- (Powering fuel cells)
- © Chiara Levi/iStockphoto
- (Producing biofuels)
- © Linde Stewart/iStockphoto
- (Cleaning oil spills)
- © Danny Hooks/iStockphoto
- (Eating waste)
- © AVTG/iStockphoto
- (Mining minerals)
- © Arno Massee/iStockphoto
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Putting Bacteria to Work
Bacteria help us in all kinds of ways, from fermenting foods to aiding medicine, cleaning oil spills to mining minerals.
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