It is important to note that microorganisms play a vital role in benefiting ecosystems, humans, and the environment. The given discussion will primarily focus on Escherichia Coli (E. Coli), which is a prokaryotic bacterium that is of major interest in microbiology called bacteriology (Hill et al., 2019). Although E. Coli is a well-known pathogen and food poisoner, it has a wide range of benefits. There are two major advantages brought by the bacterium where the first one is its role in the human gut, and the second is its criticality for science and industry.
Firstly, one should be aware that despite the common knowledge about the fact that E. Coli is responsible for many dangerous food poising incidents, it has a beneficial role in human gut microbiota. There are several strains of the bacteria, and not all of them are harmful to the human body. The human gut microbiota is comprised of a multitude of different microorganisms, the majority of which are anaerobic, which means that oxygen is either toxic or unnecessary to them. However, human gut microbiota contains a small fraction of E. Coli, which protects the entirety of the gut biome from oxygen since it is aerobic by nature (Litvak et al., 2018). In other words, E. Coli plays a vital role in aiding digestion and maintaining the balance of human gut microbiota by consuming all the oxygen trapped in the intestines. The result is the fact that other important microorganisms of the colonic microbiota can live and digest in a mutually beneficial relationship with human hosts.
Secondly, the role of E. Coli in the science and biotechnology industry cannot be overstated. Many key scientific achievements in microbiology and biology, in general, were made due to the use of E. Coli as a model organism. It offers a multitude of advantages for research since it is highly simple and multiplies rapidly. In addition, the industrial applications of E. Coli are significant because biotechnologists can use the bacteria to produce specific biochemical substances (Wittmann & Liao, 2017). For example, many livestock feed types and nutritional supplements are synthesized by using specialized E. Coli mass produce on an industrial scale (Wittmann & Liao, 2017). Therefore, E. Coli has substantial importance for both industry and science.
References
Hill., R. A., Hunt, J., Sanders, E., Tran, M., Burk, G. A., Mlsna, T. E., & Fitzkee, N. C. (2019). Effect of biochar on microbial growth: A metabolomics and bacteriological investigation in E. coli. Environmental Science & Technology, 53(5), 2635-2646.
Litvak, Y., Byndloss, M. X., & Baumler, A. J. (2018). Colonocyte metabolism shapes the gut microbiota. Science, 362(6418), 1-14.
Wittmann, C., & Liao, J. C. (2017). Industrial biotechnology: Microorganisms, volume 1. Wiley.