ABSTRACT

Chapter 5 deals with microbial biotechnology. Microbes are single-celled organisms, and they are the oldest form of life on earth. Microbe fossils date back more than 3.5 billion years, to a time when the earth was covered with oceans that regularly reached boiling point, hundreds of millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the earth. Without microbes, we could not eat or breathe. Without us, they would probably be just fine. Without microbes, plants could not grow, garbage would not decay, and there would be a lot less oxygen to breathe in. In fact, without these invisible companions, our planet as we know it would not survive. In this chapter we define microbes and explain their various attributes and discuss structural and functional characteristics of microbes. We also explain the growth and culture of microbes, discuss microbial genetics and genetic transformations, and discuss the role of microbes in food, medical, agricultural, and environmental biotechnology.