Microbes To The Rescue: Shaping and Saving The Future

The year is circa 347, the world is green and full of life and man has just discovered the natural energy resource by successfully drilling for oil. A discovery that would not bear the weight of its fruits until years later.

In 1847 is where the modern history of oil and gas begins and where our story of industrialization commences. Man began to explore the use of chemicals, for industrial manufacturing of iron, steel, machinery, cement, fertilizers, plastic, detergent, fabric, and any many other things to make life easier. With this, building on the joys of the game-changing stream and electric engines invented just years prior, humanity was on the road to improved economy, seeing a rise in the standard of living on the horizon.

But at what cost?

It did not take long before scientist started to notice the changing environment around us with the first predictions of climate change already happening around 1896. In the 1900s, air pollution became a major issue resulting in several health issues. Followed by the increasing environmental issues we see today as a result of climate change as well as oil spills and gas explosions. Gradually, our once peaceful world has been contaminated and polluted with agricultural wastes, several industrial wastes and by-products from man's several industrial activities. On top of that, our oil energy reserves which man so much depends on are fast depleting. One must think of how to save our fast-depreciating world and so the quest to solve our staggering environmental issues began.

Could microbes be the silent heroes we need?

By the 1940s scientist discovered that microbes loved to munch on hydrocarbons digesting and breaking them down to their non-harmful parts. The process of bioremediation was first used for a large-scale microbial oil spill cleanup in 1968 and has since been used to complete the cleanup of spills, sewage, leach fields as well as odor and pest control. Additionally, microbes especially algae, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus etc, have been useful for the degradation of plastics and slow degrading wastes which as we all know are a menace to the environment.

Microbes have come to our rescue once again providing alternatives for our fast-depleting oil reserves by producing biogas and biofuels. While utilizing the waste we create, they simultaneously supply us with energy while cleaning up our environment. Since its discovery in the 1800s, biogas has rapidly been recognized as a significant player in the future of energy with production expected to quadruple by 2030.

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**It is noteworthy that 10 million tons of food waste can generate 11Twh of biogas enough to heat 830,000 homes reducing CO2 emission by 8.8 million tons.**

Microbes are also fast replacing the use of fertilizers which have destroyed our soil and caused serious pollution resulting in a depleted ozone layer, acid rains and eutrophication. Microbes such as Rhizobia, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pseudomonas and Mycorrhiza, have shown abilities to fix nitrogen, solubilize phosphorus, produce IAA and other useful enzymes that promote growth in plants. Exploring these plant growth-promoting agents through several successful studies has given hope that they can one day fully replace fertilizers.

The environment and energy crisis might not be the only area where microbes can help. If we look inward, we’ll find that they play an immense role in our health as well. Probiotics such as Lactobacillus delbreuckii sub sp bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophillus, have been proposed to prevent gastrointestinal disorders by maintaining homeostasis of the gut microbiome by replacing toxicants and also using antimicrobial activities against some pathogenic microorganisms such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Clostridium difficles. They have anticancer properties binding to mutagenic compounds like heterocyclic amines, anti-mutagenic activities and also have anti-oxidant properties. Another note-worthy probiotic is B. clausii it is known to prevent the cytotoxic effects of C. difficles and B. cerus by secreting proteolytic compounds; it inhibits the hemolytic effect of B.cerus and reduces nausea in H. pyloric Positive adults reducing the risks of diarrhoea. Imagine what other superpowers we are yet to discover or maybe uncovered in the coming years, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Are microbes shaping our future to save our world by restoring and recovering it back for us? My candid answer is Yes and Yes, we are lucky to have microbes as our rescue partners. What do you think?