GOOD MICROBES...
With such a variety of microscopic organisms, it's bound to happen that
there are some that help the world. There will also be some that hurt
the world. We will cover those in another section. We're going to cover a
few of the good ones here.
FIXING NITROGEN IN SOIL
There are bacteria that go through a process called
fixing nitrogen. These bacteria, living in the
roots
of plants, actually help them absorb nitrogen from the surrounding
soil. The nitrogen is very important for the growth of the plant, and
these little bacteria give them an advantage for survival.
HELPING COWS EAT GRASS
As we said, not all protists are bad for the world. In the bacteria
section we already told you about a species that lives in the digestive
system in cows. These bacteria help cows break down the
cellulose
in plants. Similar bacteria live in all sorts of grazing animals,
helping them survive off plant material. Many ecosystems are based on
creatures that are called
herbivores.
ANTIBIOTICS
Scientists have even discovered fungi that will help you battle
bacterial diseases. So you get sick, the doctor looks at you and says
you have a bacterial infection, maybe bronchitis. He prescribes an
antibiotic to help you get better. Antibiotics are drugs designed to destroy bacteria by weakening their cell walls. When the
bacterial cell walls
are weak, your immune cells can go in and destroy the bacteria.
Although there are many types now, one of the first antibiotics was
called
penicillin. It was developed from a fungus (a fungus named Penicillium found on an orange, to be exact).
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