Bioremediation

Microbes’ mass far exceeds the mass of plants and animals combined, a product of 4 billion years of evolution. Many of them are beneficial to us, although some are not. Many clean up pollution, some with the promise to feed the hungry and change our world entirely. Microbes are commonly associated with diseases, however, microbes also are at our defense against disease. Penicillin for example, the first antibiotic against infection, first discovered by Alexander Fleming. In the microbe world, competition also occurs, using antibiotics their offensive and defensive tactic. Many microbes now have antibiotic resistance, making it more difficult to fight against disease. Tuberculosis for example has now again become relevant in society because of resistance. Mutations enable microbes to fend off antibiotic attack, making these mutated microbes reproduce exponentially. We cannot stop mutations of microbes, however, we can try to slow their resistance down by finding new antibiotics. Most microbes cannot be grown in the lab because they need their ecosystems to survive.

Professor Davies and his crew are taking microbes from the Vancouver park soil, taking their DNA, and injecting it into another recipient organism hoping it will accept the DNA. The ability of microbes to transfer genes to other microbes by the transfer of plasmid containing DNA enables microbes to have widespread resistance. The project Professor Davies conducted was successful in that they were able to produce an antibiotic that can be viable. In Kiev, Ukraine use methods of classical biology. Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion and is used as the main microbiology research site by using radioactive soil in the Ukrainian University research. The microbes in the radioactive site have most probably undergone mutation, which means potentially new antibiotics. Chernobyl bacteria have been successfully cultured in Kiev.

In a Zimbabwean village, cassava is the staple crop and is the main...