第22章原核生物：細菌と古細菌

According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, biotechnology is “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use." http://www.cbd.int/convention/articles/?a=cbd-02, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity: Article 2: Use of Terms. The concept of “specific use” involves some sort of commercial application. Genetic engineering, artificial selection, antibiotic production, and cell culture are current topics of study in biotechnology and will be described in later chapters. However, humans were using prokaryotes before the term biotechnology was even coined. Some of the products of this early biotechnology as familiar as cheese and yogurt employ bacteria, while other microbes, such as yeast, a fungus (Figure 22.29), are used to produce bread, wine, and beer.

Cheese production began around 4,000 to 7,000 years ago when humans began to breed animals and process their milk. Fermentation in this case preserves nutrients: Milk will spoil relatively quickly, but when processed as cheese, it is more stable. As for beer, the oldest records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and were an integral part of the Sumerian culture. Evidence indicates that the Sumerians discovered fermentation by chance. Wine has been produced for about 4,500 years, and evidence suggests that cultured milk products, like yogurt, have existed for at least 4,000 years.

Microbial bioremediation is the use of prokaryotes (or microbial metabolism) to remove pollutants. Bioremediation has been used to remove agricultural chemicals (e.g., pesticides, fertilizers) that leach from soil into groundwater and the subsurface. Certain toxic metals and oxides, such as selenium and arsenic compounds, can also be removed from water by bioremediation. The reduction of SeO₄^-2 to SeO₃^-2 and to Se⁰ (metallic selenium) is a method used to remove selenium ions from water. Mercury (Hg) is an example of a toxic metal that can be removed from an environment by bioremediation. As an active ingredient of some pesticides, mercury is used in industry and is also a by-product of certain processes, such as battery production. Methyl mercury is usually present in very low concentrations in natural environments, but it is highly toxic because it accumulates in living tissues. Several species of bacteria can carry out the biotransformation of toxic mercury into nontoxic forms. These bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, can convert Hg⁺² into Hg⁰, which is nontoxic to humans.

One of the most useful and interesting examples of the use of prokaryotes for bioremediation purposes is the cleanup of oil spills. The significance of prokaryotes to petroleum bioremediation has been demonstrated in several oil spills in recent years, such as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska (1989) (Figure 22.30), the Prestige oil spill in Spain (2002), the spill into the Mediterranean from a Lebanon power plant (2006), and more recently, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (2010). In the case of oil spills in the ocean, ongoing natural bioremediation tends to occur, since there are oil-consuming bacteria in the ocean prior to the spill. In addition to these naturally occurring oil-degrading bacteria, humans select and engineer bacteria that possess the same capability with increased efficacy and spectrum of hydrocarbon compounds that can be processed. Bioremediation is enhanced by the addition of inorganic nutrients that help bacteria to grow.

Some hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria feed on hydrocarbons in the oil droplet, breaking down the hydrocarbons into smaller subunits. Some species, such as Alcanivorax borkumensis, produce surfactants that solubilize the oil (making it soluble in water), whereas other bacteria degrade the oil into carbon dioxide. Under ideal conditions, it has been reported that up to 80 percent of the nonvolatile components in oil can be degraded within one year of the spill. Other oil fractions containing aromatic and highly branched hydrocarbon chains are more difficult to remove and remain in the environment for longer periods of time.