subject: What Is Microbiology? [print this page] Microbiology is study of tiny living organisms which are invisible to the naked eye. At present, microbiology is regarded as the most important branch of biotechnology and the fastest growing field in science. Its been a long time since, people were aware of what microbiology was and what were the adverse as well as beneficial effects of microorganisms. This is exactly why a number of diseases and their causes werent understood and they couldnt be cured. However, the preconceived notion changed and these small microorganisms were given their due importance. As a matter of fact, microbiology today is the most dynamic and exciting area in biological science.
Microorganisms were discovered around 300 years ago and it is believed that there are some yet to be found. Their existence was hypothesized centuries before their discovery but these claims were merely speculations. The actual breakthrough came after the invention of microscopes in the 17th century. These microbes play the most vital role on this Earth; it would be in fact true to say that the balance on this earth will get perturbed. The microbes include bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses, and protozoa . They might not even be visible and be very tiny in size. Still they are a great resource to use. Not only these microorganisms cause diseases like AIDS, food poisoning, measles, typhoid and cholera, they also help in production of beer, yoghurt, bread, wine and cheese. Other than that, they have medicinal capabilities too which are covered under medical microbiology. It overlaps with other branches of science like biochemical engineering, molecular biology, genetics, and chemistry. Microbiologist dont just run microbiology tests in labs but they are employed in many positions in hospitals, fields of research, healthcare, forensic labs, agricultural research and marine biology.
Microbiology covers many fields Bacteriology, Mycology, Virology, Parasitology, Protozoology, Immunology, Phycology. Environmental microbiology refers to study of microorganisms in the environment including the microbes in air, water, soil and also plants and animals inhabiting these areas.
Branches of Microbiology
Air Microbiology
Air, as compared to water and soil, carries lesser microorganisms. It contains bacteria, fungi, vegetative cells, algae, protozoan cyst. Air basically works as a transporter which means it disperses the microorganisms. Air microbiology could be categorized into outdoor microflora and indoor microflora.
Outside air refers to the air found outside in the atmosphere. The kind and number of organisms that are there in outside air depends from an area to another depending on the population but mainly fungus dominates the outdoor air. The common ones are Sporobolomyces and Cladosporium while Alternaria, Aspergillus, Erysiphe are also found in air. Indoor air is the one inside the buildings. The common fungi found inside are Penicillium and Aspergillus and the common bacteria are bacillius, clostridium and Staphylococci.
Food Microbiology
Food microbiology, as the name suggests, is study of microorganisms that inhabit and contaminate food. It broadly deals with their identification and activities, where the microbiologists try to find how they can use their activities for our benefit. It encompasses study of different invisible organisms that are deleterious and beneficial for the raw and processed food. Understanding the organisms which spoil food and organisms that are good for us i.e. probiotics, is becoming interestingly significant. Some microbes are actually essential for production of food products like cheese, yogurt, bread, wine, beer and other foods. Safety of food is a main part of food. Food is contaminated because of toxins and viruses produced by microbes however they can also be used to combat contamination.
Water Microbiology
Water microbiology is study of organisms that live in water and could be transported through water. Water gives abode to many microorganisms. Learning about microbiology of water is necessary because some of these are advantageous like yeast that help in production of bread and beer while the others cause contamination of water and ultimately, diseases. Naturally, many of micro-organisms live in fresh and salt water. These are useful as they convert suns energy into energy that is essential for survival of the species living underwater. They also are a source of food for them.
Microbiology Development: More on it.
What is Molecular Microbiology?
Molecular microbiology is also a branch of microbiology which is devoted to the life cycle of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbes like bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa. It basically involves communication and interactions between different cell systems and the manner they are regulated. Interrelationships of Protein biosynthesis, RNA and DNA are monitored under molecular microbiology too.
Microbiology tests on bacteria have been instrumental for the growth of molecular microbiology because they have medicinal importance. More infectious bacterial diseases are getting unearthed each passing day and thus, these microbiology tests and studies about various aspects of their properties are increasingly gaining weight.
Viruses are important for humans. They were the first organisms to get fully sequenced because the genomes of viruses are tremendously small. A lot of virus vectors are used for gene therapy while RNA technology is there for fighting specific viruses including HIV, hepatitis C and some respiratory viruses.
What is Medical Microbiology?
In science, there is a whole branch which deals with medical microbiology and studies fungi, bacteria, virus and parasites that cause diseases. It has great medicinal value and is a lot linked to the study of immunology and disease pathology. This branch of science is intense and widely studied because of its vast significance. Microbiologists dont just run microbiology lab to test and examine the nature of these microbes but also use their properties for developing vaccines to fight off diseases. Small pox, TB and polio is now highly curable due to the work that has been carried out by the researchers in the field of medical microbiology.
Other than immunology to find immunity against diseases, researchers give time to pathology and epidemiology as well. Pathology is a branch of science that helps in finding out the course of the disease and epidemiology tells them how and why a disease spreads in the body. They identify a microbe first and then explore the methods of its transmission and answer queries like the origin and history of the microorganism.
