The Importance Of Microorganisms In Biology

The importance of microorganisms in biology can be exemplified by the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen fixing bacteria either found attached to leguminous plants or free living, take nitrogen from the air and convert it to ammonia through ammonification. Nitrifying bacteria, another type of microorganism, then oxidise the ammonia to nitrites and then into nitrates. These compounds can then be absorbed by plants and be carried up the food chain. Without these microorganisms, the soil would lack in nitrogen which is a vital element needed by organisms to make molecules such as amino acids and chlorophyll. Without chlorophyll for example, photoionisation in plants would be limited, preventing electrons from transporting down the electron carrier chain and ATP synthase from making ATP for further metabolic reactions. This hence emphasises the need for microorganisms as they allow vital ions to be transferred along the food chain and maintain primary and secondary productivity in an ecosystem.

Making vaccines is another scientific field that relies on microorganisms and the simplicity of their DNA. As microorganisms don’t contain any introns or regulatory genes, their genome can almost be directly converted into their proteome. This proves useful to scientists as tertiary structures of proteins can be derived and can be replicated to make inactive forms of these proteins for vaccinations. Microorganisms to humans can hence be advantageous as if we administer these vaccines, b lymphocytes can start dividing by mitosis to make plasma cells. These plasma cells will secrete specific antibodies that are complementary to the tertiary structures of the antigen. Memory cells are also made from the cloning of B cells, and will remember the specific antibodies needed to prevent the microorganism from destroying cells and tissues. Therefore microorganisms are significant in preventing human infections due to the simplicity of their genetic information.