Microbiology
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Microbiology is the Scientific
study of microorganisms,Microbiology is a broad term which includes virology, mycology, parasitology, bacteriology, immunology and other branches. Microbiology is concerned with the
structure, function, and classification of these organisms and with ways of
controlling and using their activities.
Amicrobiologist is a specialist in microbiology
and these related topics.
Microbiology
is in some degree related to the following sciences: lower plants and animal
morphology and taxonomy (mycology, algology, protistology), plant physiology,
biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, evolutionary theory, molecular biology,
organic chemistry, agricultural chemistry, soil science, biogeochemistry,
hydrobiology, and chemical and microbiological technology.
microorganisms play a most important role in soil fertility,
in the productivity of bodies of water, and in the formation and destruction of
mineral deposits. The capacity of microorganisms to mineralize the organic
remains of animals and plants is especially important. The ever-increasing
practical use of microorganisms has led to the development of the
microbiological industry and to the substantial broadening of microbiological
research in various branches of industry and agriculture. From the middle of
the 19th century to the 1940’s, industrial microbiology principally studied various
processes of fermentation, and microorganisms were used chiefly in the
food-processing industry.
The following metabolic products are obtained on a large
scale by microbiological methods: amino acids (lysine, glutamic acid,
tryptophan), enzymes, vitamins, and nutritive yeasts on inedible raw material
(caustic sulfite, hydrolysates of wood, peat, and vegetable by-products,
petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons, phenol- or starch-containing sewage).
Polysaccharides are being produced by microbiological methods and lipids are
being biosynthesized industrially.
