Positive Roles of Bacteria in the Environment by Jahfar O'Meally

This post is directed to the general audience and its purpose is to highlight and bring awareness to a few of the good deeds bacteria contribute to our environment.

At the thought of hearing bacteria, most would think of or recall their negative impacts and disease-causing mayhem without giving these little critters their flowers when it comes to their countless positive contributions. By this end of this post I guarantee you will have a greater appreciation for these microorganisms and to erase the misconception that they are all villains.

Coliforms

These are bacteria which reside in the intestinal tract of humans, animals and other organisms. They are not harmful and share a mutualistic relationship with their host. Coliforms are used as a indicator to detect water that is contaminated by fecal matter and disease-causing agents. The larger the colony of coliforms correlates to the greater the level of contamination. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an example of a coliform.

To gain a greater understanding of Coliforms and their use as indicators please refer to the video below:

Bioremediation

This is the process by which microorganisms are used to degrade contaminants, toxins and organic compounds from water, soil or other aspects of the environment. A popular occurrence for this process is utilized in the cleaning up of oil spills. These organic compounds (e.g. oil) provide a source of carbon, energy source and other necessary requirements which allows the the bacteria to grow and reproduce. This process ends after the organisms completely break down the organic compound into CO2 (Carbon dioxide). Alcanivorax borkumensis is one such organism used in Bioremediation.

Bioremediation process:

Water Treatment

In specific steps of waste water treatment, bacteria is used to reduce contaminants or to make waste water less polluted as it prepares for another step in the cycle. Zoogloea sp is used in the activated sludge system to aid in the purification process, as well as, the presence of sewage-metabolizing microbes. There are also various digestive and fermentative bacteria which take part in this process by breaking down contaminants and inhibiting growth of other pathogenic/contaminating bacteria species.

For more information on bacteria in water treatment:

Questions

1. Do you still have the misconception that all bacteria are bad?

2. What other positive applications of bacteria are you aware of?

References

Mitchell, C. (2022). What Is Bioremediation, and How Does It Work? (With Examples). https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bioremediation.asp#:~:text=Bioremediation%20is%20a%20branch%20of,%2C%20water%2C%20and%20other%20environments.

New York State Department of Health. (2017). Coliform Bacteria in Drinking Water Supplies. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/coliform_bacteria.htm#:~:text=What%20are%20Coliforms%3F,in%20plant%20and%20soil%20material.

Stephenson-Clarke, S. (2022). MICR1010 Environmental Microbiology: Applications [Powerpoint slide]