University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

Includes Index

Industrial microbiology or microbial biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses) or plant and animal cells to creat useful products or processes. the microorganisms utilized may be natural isolates, laboratory selected mutants or microbes that have been genetically engineered using recombinant DNA methods. The terms 'Industrial microbiology' and 'biotechnology'are often one and the same. Industrial microbiologists may alsobe responsible for air and plant contamination, health of animals used in testing products, anddiscovery of new organisms and pathways.for instance, most antibiotics come from microbial fermentations involving a group of organisms called actinomycetes. other organisms such as yeasts are used in banking, in the production of alcohol for beverages, and in fuel production (gasohol). Additional groups of microorganisms form products that range from organic acids to enzymes used to creat various sugars, amino acides,and datergents. This book will be useful to researchers, teachers and students of microbiology, agriculture, botany and zoology.