write a paragraph on the harms and usefulness of microorganisms
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Answer:
usefulness of microorganisms
Micro-organisms are too small to be seen through naked eyes. However, they are vital to plants and the environment.
Importance of micro-organisms:
They are used in winemaking, baking, pickling, and other food making processes.Alcoholic fermentation by yeast is widely used in the preparation of wine and bread. A bacterium Lactobacillus, promotes the formation of curd.Microbes are used to reduce pollution. For example, decomposers such as bacteria and fungi break down dead bodies and excreta to form inorganic compounds, which can be absorbed by plants.They are used to increase the soil fertility by fixing the atmospheric nitrogen with the help of bacterium Rhizobium and some other blue-green algae.Microbes also play an important role in the preparation of medicines. Antibiotics are chemicals produced by micro-organisms to kill bacteria.Streptomycin, for example, is an antibiotic.Certain microbes are also used in the biological treatment of sewage and industrial effluents.
Harmful effects of micro-organisms:
Micro-organisms cause diseases in animals. For example, in humans, bacteria cause diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, etc. In cattle, the foot and mouth disease is caused by a virus. Also, several microbes cause diseases in plants. For example, the productivity of wheat, orange, apple, etc. is reduced due to microbial diseases in plants. Certain microbes, on entering into our body, produce toxic substances. This leads to food poisoning. Some micro-organisms such as fungus spoil our food. For example, bread when left unused under moist conditions gets spoilt by fungus, producing a white cotton-like growth on the bread.
Answer:
Microorganisms can prove very harmful to us, as they cause a number of diseases in human, plants and animals. Diseases in humans like common cold, tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox, polio, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis B, malaria, etc. are caused by microorganisms.
Microorganisms are useful in producing foods, treating waste water, creating biofuels and a wide range of chemicals and enzymes. They are invaluable in research as model organisms. They have been weaponised and sometimes used in warfare and bioterrorism.
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