Article Title: Using tropical microbes to improve the environment
Source: phys.org
Date: 4-12-17
Link: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-tropical-microbes-environment.html
Summary: Researchers have been investigating ways to use the rich and diverse microbiome of the tropic region to help advance farming and agriculture, often finding ways to use them to protect against disease or increase efficiency in some way. For example, the scientists cultured the bacterium found in the guts of tropical fish, which can possibly be probiotics for commercially grown fish by inducing it into their guts through their food. This would protect them from the same diseases that the bacterium prevent in the tropical fish, enhancing survivability and resistance to diseases that could otherwise wreak havoc on the fish. A similar method is also used to protect banana crops, using the Streptomyces bacteria as an antifungal and antibacterial in the soil.
Connections: This is similar to what we have studied about both oil spills and microbiomes, as they are using microbes to reduce man made chemical use and are introducing these bacteria to the microbiomes of the fish and the plants.
Critical Analysis: I thought it was interesting to see how microbes can be used to protect against disease and how introducing them to the guts of the fish is almost like a vaccine for the fish. Although the article is about a developing way of helping agriculture and farming, there is a good amount of depth and explanation to the story to explain what is going on to the reader. It provides what may otherwise be a little technical to read for the general public into an interesting read that explains what it is saying well.
Question: In hat other ways could this be applied? Could it be used in place of certain vaccinations in humans? Even if it is just temporary, it would be interesting to see if this could be used for things like traveling. Because different people, especially of different cultures, have different microbiomes, could this method make it easier to travel and tolerate things such as drinking water and foods in different countries?
1 Comment for “A2: Microbes in the News- Using tropical microbes to improve the environment”
ahhoveid
says:I agree, I thought the article was very interesting as well and I do think it provides relevant information to the reader, in order to help them understand the topic better.
I think you are asking a very interesting question, and from what little research I did, I think that there is a possibility that you can use live bacterial cultures in vaccines. There has been some studies done on the area, but there is of course some complications associated with it. As for your question on if you can use this mechanism for travel, I don’t know, but time will most likely show.