Useful products from microbesसूक्ष्मजीवों से उपयोगी उत्पाद

Class 12 Biology · Chapter 8 · interactive diagram

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Parts and their functions

Curd — Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (दही — लैक्टिक अम्ल जीवाणु) — Lactobacillus and other LAB grow in milk and make lactic acid, which coagulates and partially digests milk proteins. A small amount of curd added to fresh milk is the inoculum (starter). LAB also increase vitamin B₁₂ and check disease-causing microbes in our stomach.
Dough: bread, idli, dosa (गुँधा आटा: ब्रेड, इडली, डोसा) — Dough for dosa and idli is fermented by bacteria; the puffed look is due to CO₂. Bread dough is fermented with baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Toddy (ताड़ी) — Traditional drink of parts of southern India, made by fermenting sap from palms.
Cheese (पनीर/चीज़) — Swiss cheese: large holes due to lots of CO₂ made by Propionibacterium sharmanii. Roquefort cheese: ripened by growing a specific fungus on it, for flavour.
Fermented beverages (किण्वित पेय) — Brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) ferments malted cereals and fruit juices to ethanol. Wine and beer: without distillation; whisky, brandy and rum: distilled.
Penicillin (पेनिसिलिन) — First antibiotic, discovered by chance by Alexander Fleming from the mould Penicillium notatum (it stopped Staphylococci growing). Its full potential was established later by Ernest Chain and Howard Florey; all three shared the Nobel Prize (1945).
Organic acids (कार्बनिक अम्ल) — Aspergillus niger (fungus) → citric acid; Acetobacter aceti (bacterium) → acetic acid; Clostridium butylicum (bacterium) → butyric acid; Lactobacillus (bacterium) → lactic acid.
Enzymes (एंजाइम) — Lipases are used in detergents to remove oily stains; pectinases and proteases make bottled fruit juices clearer.
Streptokinase (स्ट्रेप्टोकाइनेज) — Made by Streptococcus and modified by genetic engineering; used as a "clot buster" to remove clots from blood vessels of patients with myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Cyclosporin A (साइक्लोस्पोरिन A) — Immunosuppressive agent for organ-transplant patients; produced by the fungus Trichoderma polysporum.
Statins (स्टैटिन) — Blood-cholesterol lowering agents from the yeast Monascus purpureus; they competitively inhibit the enzyme that makes cholesterol.

Original diagram drawn by Simple Learning Hub, based on the NCERT textbook. Report a mistake