PUSHPAGIRIYIL CENTRAL SCHOOL

BIOLOGY PROJECT REPORT

2023-2024

A PROJECT REPORT ON
“MICROBES IN HUMAN WELFARE”

Submitted for the AISSCE practical examinations 2023-24. Certified

and Bonafide project done by.

NAME : ABITHA MARIAM SHIJU

CLASS : XII
ROLL NO :

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 CERTIFICATE

Certified Bonafede record of the project work

“MICROBES IN HUMAN WELFARE ” submitted by
ABITHA MARIAM SHIJU of class XII, Pushpagiriyil
Central School during 2023-24

TEACHER INCHARGE PRINCIPAL

……………… ………………

Signature of External Examiner

……………………………………

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 DECLARATION
We hereby declare that the project work entitled “MICROBES IN
HUMAN WELFARE” submitted in the partial fulfillment of the
study of class XII CBSE scheme in Biology is a record of Bonafide
research carried out by us under the guidance of Mr.Unais A and
Mrs.Asha Joseph and no part of it has been submitted for any other
study.

ABITHA MARIAM SHIJU

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the accomplishment of this project successfully, many people have
best owned upon me their blessings and the heart pledged support, this
time I am utilizing to thank all the people who have been concerned
with project.

Primarily I would thank God for being able to complete this project
with success. Then I would thank our Director, Mr. Jose Kurian, our
principal Mr. Shibu Zacharia, our Biology teachers Mr.Unais A and
Mrs Asha Joseph, whose valuable guidance has been the ones that
helped me patch this project and make it full proof success. Their
suggestions and instructions have served as the major contributor
towards the completion of the project.

Then I would like to thank my parents and friends who have helped me
with their valuable suggestions and guidance has been helpful in
various phases of the completion of the project.

ABITHA MARIAM SHIJU

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 CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Kinds of Microbes
 Microbes In Households
 Microbes In Industrial Products
 Fermented Beverages
 Antibiotics
 Organic acids
 Enzymes
 Bioactive molecules
 Microbes In Sewage Treatment
 Primary treatment
 Secondary treatment
 Microbes In Biogas Production
 Microbes As Biocontrol Agents
 What is biocontrol?
 Biocontrol agents
 Microbial biocontrol agents
 Microbes As Biofertilizers
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
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 INTRODuCTION
Microbiology:
The branch of science which deals with the study of micro organisms. It
further includes numerous sub disciplines like virology, parasitology,
mycology, bacteriology etc.

What are microbes?

Microbes are tiny living things that are found all around us. They may or
may not be visible to the naked eye. Microorganisms are very diverse.
They include bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa, micro plants and
animals such as rotifers and planarians.
Microorganisms live in all parts of the biosphere even where no other life
form can exist, such as in deep water, including soil, hot springs, on the
ocean floor, high in the atmosphere and deep inside rocks within the
earth’s crust.
Microorganisms are critical to nutrient recycling in ecosystems as they act
as decomposers. As some microorganisms can fix nitrogen, they are a
vital part of the nitrogen cycle; airborne microbes may play a role in
precipitation and weather. Microbes are also exploited by people in
biotechnology, both in traditional food and beverage preparation, and in
modern technology are based on genetic engineering.
Pathogenic microbes are harmful, since they invade and grow within
organisms, causing diseases that kill humans, plants and animals.

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 KINDS OF MICRObES
There are different types of microbes present on our earth. They are:

Algae
Algae are a diverse group of eukaryotic, non vascular, thallophytic,
autotrophic, chlorophyll-containing organisms capable of producing
oxygen through photosynthesis. They contain photosynthetic pigments
and can prepare their own food.
Example: Diatoms

Bacteria
Bacteria are very tiny single-celled microbes that can live in all
environment conditions. They lack membrane bound cell organelles
except for ribosomes.
Example: E.coli

Protozoa
Protozoa are microscopic unicellular eukaryotes, either free living or
parasitic they eat mostly rotting and dead stuff.
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Example: Amoeba

Virus
A virus is a sub microscopic infectious microbe that replicates only inside
the living organism cells. They have no cellular structure. Example:
Adenoviruses

Fungi
Fungi are eukaryotic, multicellular organisms that include yeast, moulds,
etc. They possess nucleus and cell organelles.
Example: Yeast, Mushrooms.

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 MICRObES IN HOuSEHOLDS

Microbes and their products are used in our everyday life. It is used in the
making of cheese, curd, dough, bread, yoghurt, pickles etc.

Curd: Micro organisms such as Lactobacillus and others commonly called

lactic acid bacteria (LAB) growing milk and convert it to curd. During
growth, the LAB produces acids that coagulate and partially digest the
milk proteins.
Bread: The dough which is used for bread is fermented using baker’s
yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
Cheese: Different varieties of cheese are known by the specifity coming
from the microbes used. The large holes in Swiss cheese are due to the
production of large amount of CO2 by a bacterium named
Propionibacterium shermanii.
Yoghurt: Yoghurt is produced by curdling milk with the help of
Lactococcus lactis.
Pickle: Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Pediococcus cerevisiae are used in
making pickle.
Toddy: ‘Toddy’, a traditional drink of some parts of southern India is made
by fermenting sap from palms.
Paneer: It is made by curdling milk with lemon juice, vinegar and other
edible acids.

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 MICRObES uSED IN INDuSTRIES
In industries, microbes are very much used to synthesize different types
of products which are valuable for us. Biotechnology and microbiology
have industrial microbiology as a branch that deals with the study of
various microorganisms and their application in industries. The products
are food additives, beverages (alcoholic and non alcoholic), organic acids,
enzymes etc.

Fermented beverages

Fermentors are the very large vessels that are required in production on
an industrial scale for growing microbes.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly called Brewer’s yeast is used for
fermenting malted cereals and fruit juices, to produce ethanol.
Whisky, brandy, rum are produced by distillation of the fermented broth.

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Antibiotics
Antibiotics are chemical substances that can kill or inhibit the growth of
disease-causing microbes.
Antibiotics produced by microbes are regarded as one of the most
significant discoveries of the 20th century and have greatly contributed
towards the welfare of the human society.
Different types of antibiotics and their source (microbes) are given as
follows:

ANTIBIOTICS SOURCE(MICROBES)

Penicillin Penicillium notatum

Streptomycin Streptomyces griseus

Erythromycin Streptomyces erythreus

Neomycin Streptomyces fradiae

Organic acids
Microbes are also used for commercial and industrial production of
certain chemicals like organic acids.
Citric acid was the first organic acid that was produced.

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Different types of microbes are below in the given table:

MICROBES CHEMICALS

Clostridium butyricum(a bacterium) Butyric acid

Aspergillus niger(a fungus) Citric acid

Acetobacter aceti(a bacterium) Acetic acid

Lactobacillus (a bacterium) Lactic acid

Enzymes
These are used to control certain biochemical reactions in the living
system.
Streptokinase is used to remove blood clots from blood vessels of
patients. It is produced from bacterium Streptococcus.
Statins produced by the yeast Monascus purpureus have been
commercialised as blood-cholesterol lowering agents.
Cyclosporin A produced by the fungus Trichoderma polysporum is used as
an immuno suppressive agent in transplantation.
Bioactive Molecules
The chemicals formed as a result of microbial activity are known as
bioactive molecules. Bioactive molecules such as Cyclosporin A and
Statins are used for immunosuppressive agent in organ transplant
patients and blood- cholesterol lowering agents, respectively. Apart from
this, these microbes are also used for production of different types of bio
fuels, bio fertilizers, vaccines etc.
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 MICRObES IN SEWAGE
TREATMENT
The municipal wastewater (sewage) contains large amounts of organic
matter and microbes. Many of them are pathogenic. The sewage is
treated before it is discharged into water bodies to reduce the pollution
level in water bodies. The sewage treatment involves two steps:

 Primary Treatment
 Secondary Treatment

Primary Treatment:
It is a physical process of removal of small and large particles through
filtration and sedimentation.
By letting the sewage to pass through wired mesh screens of smaller pore
sizes, floating substances like leaves, polythene are removed sequentially.

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The sewage is passed on to the gift chamber, where the gift, that is, soil
and pebbles are sedimented.
The sewage is allowed to go into the primary settling tank. The suspended
materials settle down to form the primary sludge in the setting tank.
The effluent is sent for secondary treatment.

Secondary Treatment:
This process is carried out by bacteria present in the tanks.
The employment from the primary treatment is passed into large aeration
tanks. Here it is constantly agitated and air is pumped into it.
Agitation allows rapid growth of aerobic microbes into ’flocs’, which
digest the organic matter of the sewage and reduce the biological oxygen
demand (BOD).
Once the BOD of sewage is reduced significantly the employment is
passed into a settling tank, where the ‘flocs’ are allowed to sediment
forming the activated sludge.
A small part of the activated sludge is formed back into the irration tank
as inoculum.
The remaining part of the sludge is pumped into anaerobic sludge
digesters, where the anaerobic bacteria digest the bacteria and fungi in
the sludge producing biogas, i.e., methane, hydrogen sulphide and carbon
dioxide.
The effluent after secondary treatment is released into water bodies.

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 MICRObES IN bIOGAS
PRODuCTION
Microbes contain various types of gaseous end-products during growth,
development and metabolism.
Biogas is a mixture of gases that mainly contains methane, produced by
the activity of microbes. The specific bacteria that grow anaerobically on
cellulose substances, produce large amounts of methane along with
carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide etc.
The bacteria that produce a mixture of gases are collectively called
methanogens, and one such common bacterium is Methanobacterium.
The excreta of cattle, commonly called gobar, is rich in these bacteria.
Dung can be used for the generation of biogas, commonly called gobar
gas.
The biogas plant consists of a concrete tank in which bio-wastes are
collected and slurry of dung is fed. Floating cover is placed over the slurry,
which keeps on rising as the gas is produced in the tank due to the
microbial activity. The biogas plant has an outlet, which is connected to a
pipe to supply biogas to nearby houses. The spent slurry is removed
through another outlet and may be used as fertilizer.
Two types of biogas plants are present:
 Fixed dome-shaped
 Floating gas holding Biogas plant

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 MICRObES AS bIOCONTROL
AGENTS

What is Biocontrol?
The natural method of eliminating and controlling the insects, pests and
other disease causing agents using their natural biological enemies is
called bio control or biological control. The agents which are employed
for this are called biocontrol agents. Microbes are one of them.
Integrated Pest Management means that we need to not eradicate the
pests of the crops but limit them to a number that it does not harm the
crops. The pests are kept at a manageable level by a complex system of
checks and balances within the ecosystem.
The biocontrol measures will greatly reduce our dependence on toxic
chemicals and pesticides.

Biocontrol Agents
Biocontrol agents are an integral part of organic farming. In organic
farming, farmers believe in mutualism, in other words, farmers keep a
balance of useful and harmful agents within the system. The chemicals
used for eradicating pest and parasite might not be always successful and
also harm useful agents too. Instead, farmers use biocontrol agents which
predate the insects and pests that cause disease to crops.

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Microbial Biocontrol Agents
 Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium whose spores are toxic to certain
insects’ larvae and kills them, but is not harmful to other insects and
does not kill them. The toxin producing genes of this bacterium are
transferred through recombinant bio-technology into crop plants,
which become resistant to insect pests.
Eg: BT cotton, which is being cultivated in some states of our
country.

 The fungus Trichoderma is free living in the soil and root ecosystems
and is used against several plant pathogens. They are effective
biocontrol agent of several plant pathogens.

 Baculoviruses are pathogens that attack many insects and arthropods.

One of the baculovirus used as a biocontrol agent is
nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPVs). They are species-specific and do not
harm other pests, plants or animals.
 Ladybird beetle is useful to get a rid of aphids and dragonflies control
mosquitoes.

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 MICRObES AS bIOFERTILIzERS
Bio fertilizers
Bio fertilizers are the microorganisms that are used to enrich the fertility
of the soil. They increase the fertility of the soil by adding certain
nutrients to the soil. Three group of organisms used as bio fertilizers are:

 Bacteria
 Cyanobacteria
 Fungi ( Mycorrhiza)
Biofertilizers provide and eco-friendly way of sustaining the crops and
promoting organic agriculture. The less pesticides and synthetic fertilizers
that you use, the better it is for the health of the plants. There are
advantages of synthetic pesticides as well and it is difficult finding a good
replacement for them, however these days the biofertilizers are used in
place of chemical pesticides. The use of microbes for biofertilizers is
effective and they do not display any of the ill effects that related with the
synthetic ones.
There are various types of microorganisms that act as biofertilizers. Each
of the types comes with its own exclusive capability and function. There
are mainly 6 types of microbes that are used as biofertilizers. These
microbes are Rhizobia, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Blue-green algae,
Azolla, and Phosphate – solubilising microorganisms.
Fungal association in mycorrhiza also and enriches the nutrient content of
the soil. Fungi of the genus glomus absorb phosphorus from soil and pass
it to the plant. These symbiotic associations also provide disease
resistance and tolerance to drought and salinity.
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Types of Biofertilizers
Some of the important types of biofertilizers are:
Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing bacteria: Rhizobium shows a symbiotic
association with the root nodules of leguminous plants. It fixes nitrogen
into soil and increases its fertility. It forms nodules in the roots of the
plants.
Loose Association of Nitrogen-Fixing bacteria: Certain bacterium lives
around the roots of higher plants but do not develop any relationship
with the plant. The bacteria obtain some exudates from the plant and use
it as its food. Example: Azospirillum.
Free-Living Nitrogen-Fixing bacteria: They live freely in the soil and fix
nitrogen. Examples: Azotobacter, Bacillus polymyxa, Beijerinckia.
Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria: They form symbiotic
association with certain plants. Azolla-Anabaena association is an
association of the leaves of the fern Azolla pinnata with cyanobacteria.
Anabaena lives in the coralloid roots of Cycas. Azolla and Nostoc are
added in the rice fields to increase the rice yield.

Importance of Biofertilizers
 The biofertilizer microbes are utilised for fixing the nutrients within
the soil especially related to the insufficient nitrogen.
 The biofertilizer is the living organism and it helps in converting the
composite organic material into the simple compounds. This makes
it easier for the plants or trees to take them.

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 CONCLuSION
The tiny living organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye are
called microorganisms or microbes. Microbes are an essential part of life
on earth. These can be both useful as well as harmful. Several bacteria
are extremely beneficial to humans.
They are helpful in the production of bread and curd, commercial
production of alcohol and vinegar, production of antibiotic medicines for
the treatment of diseases, improving soil fertility and cleaning up the
environment by decomposing dead plants and animals, production of
vaccines against a number of diseases and many human body functions
such as digestion and vitamin K formation. Microbes have been utilised
for more than a century to treat sewage (wastewater) through the
process of activated sludge formation, which aids in the recycling of water
in nature.

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 bIbLIOGRAPHy
 NCERT Biology Textbook for class XII
 www.google.com
 https://en.m.wikipedia.org
 https://www.scribd.com
 Journal of cell biology [magazine by Rockefeller University press]
 Prescott’s Principles of Microbiology [Joanne Willey Kathleen
Sandman]

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