Medicinal Use of Microorganisms

Q1: What are antibiotics? Give examples.

Answer: 

Antibiotics are medicines that either kill or stop the growth of disease-causing microorganisms. Examples: streptomycin, erythromycin, azithromycin, penicillin, ciprofloxacin

Q2: Name some Microorganisms of medicinal use to plants.

Answer: 

Bacillus thuringiensis, Trichoderma, Baculoaculoviruses

Q3: What are the medicinal uses of microorganisms for Humans?

Answer: 

Some common medicinal Uses of Microorganisms are as follows:

1. Microorganisms are used in the production of antibiotics such as Streptomycin and Erythromycin.
2. Penicillin is used to treat various infections.
3. Microorganisms are used in the production of vaccines.
4. Some microbes are rich in vitamins and proteins and hence used as nutritional supplements.

Q4: Which Microorganisms are used in the production of Vitamin B12?

Answer: 

Bacillus megaterium, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Pseudomonas denitrificans, and Streptomyces olivaceus are commonly used in the production of Vitamin B12.

Q5: Name any disease caused by one Microorganism and treated using another Microorganism.

Answer: 

Diarrhoea is caused by Rotavirus and Escherichia coli and it can be treated using Arithromycin obtained from bacteria along with fluoroquinolones.

Medicinal Uses of Microorganisms include the production of antibiotics and vaccines, vitamins and minerals supplements, etc. Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae play a vital role in medicines for humans, plants, and animals. Some microbes are harmful whereas some microbes are useful to plants and animals. Microorganisms are useful in almost all day-to-day activities. They are used in the preparation of bread, cake, and curd, in the digestion of food, as medicines, as biocontrol agents, and as nitrogen-fixing bacteria in plants, etc.

What are Microorganisms?

Microorganisms are very small living organisms that are not visible to the naked eye. They ​​ can be ​seen only with the help of microscopes. Microorganisms are present everywhere in all types of environment

Microorganisms can be either prokaryotic (without a nucleus) or eukaryotic (with a nucleus). Some microbes are useful for plants and animals (i.e., they act as friends) whereas some microbes are harmful and cause diseases in both plants and animals (i.e., they act as foes).