Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands

Microorganisms are essential for human life. Microorganisms decompose the carbon compounds in dead animals and plants and convert them into carbon dioxide. Intestinal bacteria assist in food digestion. Some vitamins are produced by bacteria that live in the intestines. Sewage and industrial wastewat...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Tsukasa Ito
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2013
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5a462f0a51b84abc92ae66ad7eeffce9
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:5a462f0a51b84abc92ae66ad7eeffce9
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5a462f0a51b84abc92ae66ad7eeffce92021-11-15T15:18:40ZColor-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands10.1128/jmbe.v14i2.5451935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/5a462f0a51b84abc92ae66ad7eeffce92013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v14i2.545https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885Microorganisms are essential for human life. Microorganisms decompose the carbon compounds in dead animals and plants and convert them into carbon dioxide. Intestinal bacteria assist in food digestion. Some vitamins are produced by bacteria that live in the intestines. Sewage and industrial wastewater are treated by activated sludge composed of microbial communities. All of these are due to the ability of microbes to produce many enzymes that can degrade chemicals. How do teachers make students understand that microorganisms are always associated with humans, and that microorganisms have the ability to degrade chemicals? The presence of microorganisms on humans can be shown by incubating agar plates after they are touched by the hands of students. The ability of microorganisms to degrade chemicals can be shown by an analytical measurement of the degradation of chemicals. When the chemicals are dyes (colorants) in water, microbial activity on degradation of dyes can be demonstrated by observing a decreasing degree of color as a result of the enzymatic activity (e.g., azoreductase). Dyes are widely used in the textile, food, and cosmetic industries. They are generally resistant to conventional biological wastewater treatment systems such as the activated sludge process (4). The discharge of wastewater containing dye pollutes surface water. The ability of microorganisms to decolorize and degrade dyes has been widely investigated to use for bioremediation purposes (5). The goal of this tip is to understand the presence of bacteria on human skin and the ability of bacteria to degrade colorant chemicals (decolorization). In this tip, students first cultivate and isolate bacteria on their hands, and then examine potential decolorization activity of each bacterium by observing the degree of color of the liquid in tubes in which bacteria isolated from students’ hands were inoculated. Decolorization activity of bacterial isolates from human skin has been reported recently (6). To date this author has frequently obtained colorant-degrading bacterial isolates from human hands as a result of work on a scientific education project. This tip does not require analytical measurements. Students can examine a number of bacterial isolates simultaneously. Therefore, it is appropriate for high school and introductory level college courses.Tsukasa ItoAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 14, Iss 2, Pp 244-247 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Tsukasa Ito Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
description	Microorganisms are essential for human life. Microorganisms decompose the carbon compounds in dead animals and plants and convert them into carbon dioxide. Intestinal bacteria assist in food digestion. Some vitamins are produced by bacteria that live in the intestines. Sewage and industrial wastewater are treated by activated sludge composed of microbial communities. All of these are due to the ability of microbes to produce many enzymes that can degrade chemicals. How do teachers make students understand that microorganisms are always associated with humans, and that microorganisms have the ability to degrade chemicals? The presence of microorganisms on humans can be shown by incubating agar plates after they are touched by the hands of students. The ability of microorganisms to degrade chemicals can be shown by an analytical measurement of the degradation of chemicals. When the chemicals are dyes (colorants) in water, microbial activity on degradation of dyes can be demonstrated by observing a decreasing degree of color as a result of the enzymatic activity (e.g., azoreductase). Dyes are widely used in the textile, food, and cosmetic industries. They are generally resistant to conventional biological wastewater treatment systems such as the activated sludge process (4). The discharge of wastewater containing dye pollutes surface water. The ability of microorganisms to decolorize and degrade dyes has been widely investigated to use for bioremediation purposes (5). The goal of this tip is to understand the presence of bacteria on human skin and the ability of bacteria to degrade colorant chemicals (decolorization). In this tip, students first cultivate and isolate bacteria on their hands, and then examine potential decolorization activity of each bacterium by observing the degree of color of the liquid in tubes in which bacteria isolated from students’ hands were inoculated. Decolorization activity of bacterial isolates from human skin has been reported recently (6). To date this author has frequently obtained colorant-degrading bacterial isolates from human hands as a result of work on a scientific education project. This tip does not require analytical measurements. Students can examine a number of bacterial isolates simultaneously. Therefore, it is appropriate for high school and introductory level college courses.
format	article
author	Tsukasa Ito
author_facet	Tsukasa Ito
author_sort	Tsukasa Ito
title	Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
title_short	Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
title_full	Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
title_fullStr	Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
title_full_unstemmed	Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands
title_sort	color-removal by microorganisms isolated from human hands
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/5a462f0a51b84abc92ae66ad7eeffce9
work_keys_str_mv	AT tsukasaito colorremovalbymicroorganismsisolatedfromhumanhands
_version_	1718428128941965312

Color-Removal by Microorganisms Isolated from Human Hands

Ejemplares similares