Note to marker:

Before you mark this. I tried to find examples of bacteria as you stated I should do in
your first draft comments, but the source I got this information from did not state this. I
have marked in red where the examples are needed, please could you kindly suggest an
example. Thankyou very much.

The advantages and disadvantages of bacteria

Bacteria can be useful in genetic engineering, other biotechnological applications,

medical technology and the food industry etc) and can be harmful (food spoilage, tooth
decay and disease etc). However bacteria can also be harmfull, as they can cause tooth
decay, disease ( some being fatal) and food decay.

The advantages of bacteria for genetic Engineering are firstly economic- they contain a
valuable source of enyzmes Bacteria produce more enzyme molecules in relation to their
mass than most other organisms. The product yield can be increased by means of strain
selection, mutation and optimisation of growth conditions. They are easy to manipulate
genetically and can be subjected to gene transfer techniques. Secondly there is an
environmental/economic advantage of bacteria- they can occupy a great variety of
habitats and extremes of conditions, so their enzymes function in an enourmous range of
PH and temperature. ("A New Introduction to Biology")

Ethically the use of bacteria in the cloning of animals is controversial. At the Roslin
Institute in Scotland, scientists successfully cloned an exact copy of a sheep, named
'Dolly'. This was the first successful cloning of an animal and most likely the first
occurrence of two organisms being genetically identical. ecently the sheep's health
however has deteriorated detrimentally. Many people especially on the grounds of
religion think it is immoral to "play God" by the use of modified bacteria.

Environmentally the bacteria used in genetic engineering chosen do not produce toxins or
offensive odours and are non-pathogenic. Bacteria e.g. be of great benefit to the
environment, as they may be used in the future to break up oil slicks in a technique
known as bioremediation. Bacteria can also be used for biological pest control - some
bacterium are toxic to a particular pest species e.g.

In biotechnological applications, bacteria are cultured usually by batch-fermentation on a

large scale to produce chemical products such as vitamins and enzymes in industrial
quantities. (The Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia). The advantages of using bacteria in
biotechnological processes are that large scale fermentation, using both aerobic and
anaerobic bacteria can be carried out in large bioreactors/fermentors
Enzymes are usually produced by batch fermentation and bacteria are used. Bacteria
are used because they can reproduce themseolves very quickly. In fermentation the
protease enzyme etc.

The disadvantages of using bacteria in biotechnological processes, are that the

bacteriophages are a serious problem if they infect the contents of an industrial
fermentor. Bacteria are expensive to purify and often unstable in the purified state.

(The Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia)

The bacterium Streptococcus converts sugar to lactic acid and slowly etch away the
enamel on teeth cause tooth decay However Bacteria can be genetically modified and
bacteria may banish tooth decay. According to dental researcher Jeffrey Hillman at the
University of Florida in Gainesville a mouthful of genetically modified bacteria could
keep tooth decay away for life. The scheme involves replacing your mouth's natural
cavity-causing bacteria with GM bacteria designed to prevent tooth decay.

(http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991941)

The technicalogical applications of bacteria are advantageous. The enzymes contained in

different bacteria can be used in the dairy industry- extracellular lipase is used to ripen
blue chesses from mould e.g Penicillum roguefortii.The production of cheese by
separating milk into curd and whey may be achieved by the addition to the milk of the
enzyme rennet or by the addition of a bacterial culture. Also In the ripening process,
micro-organisms, most commonly lactic-acid-producing bacteria, act on the cheese to
produce the desired body and flavour. (The Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia)

Bacteria have a high growth rate and so bacteria can be used to help farmers save crops
as they are used for genetic engineering; for example, bacteria can be used to insert genes
for disease or herbicide resistance into plants. These are also used in biological pest
control and are also necessary for the breakdown of sewage.

(http://www.biology-online.org/2/13_genetic_engineering.htm).

There are many types of bacteria that cause spoilage and they can be divided into: spore-
forming and nonspore-forming. This can lead to food poisoning - an illness that you may
get after eating food contaminated by certain bacteria For instance Botulism is an often
fatal disease that results from eating improperly canned foods( spoiled canned food) ,
improperly processed, low-acid foods such as green beans, mush-rooms, spinach, olives
and beef or fish contaminated with toxins released by the bacteria Clostridium
botulinum.

(http://is6.pacific.net.hk/~ppleung/Chem/food%20poisoning.htm)

Diseases range from the trivial to the life threatening because they are caused by a range
of pathogenic organisms and are transmitted from person to person in a wide variety of
ways.

Bacteria such as Salmonella are well known disease-causing agents. They give rise to a
range of diseases from common complaints such as tonsilitus to much rarer and
frequently lethal conditions such as tetanus. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium and causes
"Flu-like" symptoms followed by invasion of liver and red blood cells. It is spread by
female anopheles mosquito is the vector transmitting Plasmodium betwen people.
The uses of bacteria in medical technology are advantageous. Bacteria can be used to
make antibiotics to cure diseases. One example is the new anthrax killer described in the
Aug. 22 issue of Nature. Fischetti and his colleagues took their cue from a type of virus
called a bacteriophage that preys on bacteria, replicating inside them. When it needs to
escape, the phage uses an enzyme called a lysin to burst the bacteria's cell membrane,
popping it like a balloon stuck with a pin. Phages use their lysin to escape, but lysin will
also burst bacterial membranes if applied from the outside. This was tested on mice and
it killed the anthrax.

The enzymes in the bacteria are highly sensitive to changes in the physical and chemical
environment surrounding them- environmental disadvantage. They may be denatured by
even a small temperature rise and change in pH. This means that the conditions in which
they work must be stringently controlled. In particular the enzyme-substrate mixture
must not be contaminated with other substances that might affect the reaction so the
equipment used must be scrupulously clean- this is time consuming, so an economic
disadvantage.

In conclusion it seems that most bacteria are harmful to humans. However some bacteria
are beneficial to us and without them we would suffer tooth decay etc. It seems that we
need bacteria in order to cure harmful diseases as well as to speed up industrial processes
and improve our environment. There are ethical issues involved when we talk about
using them in genetic engineering. However these are from a minority and social issues
like curing humans from fatal diseases should take priority.