Microbial diversity is an essential aspect of any ecosystem on earth.
Microorganisms are the most common and diversified population in the soil. A microbe
is a microscopic organism that can be studied in a single-cell or colony. On the other
hand, microbes have a positive or negative effect on their surroundings. Microbial
diversity plays an essential role in bioremediation, which is the method of detoxifying
or neutralizing radioactive waste into less harmful or non-toxic compounds by
secreting various bacterial and fungal enzymes. In this chapter, we focus on (i) the
impact of microbial diversity on detoxifying pollutants (bioremediation), (ii) microbial
role in biofuel production, (iii) microbial role in ore leaching (bioleaching), (iv)
microbial role in controlling biogeochemical cycles (v) microbial role in soil quality
and agriculture improvement (vi)
To understand the interaction between different microbes, it is important to
understand how they communicate with one another in their adjacent environment.
These interactions are beneficial because when different microbes interact, they
stimulate specific mechanisms, release signals, and result in the production and
synthesis of important vaccines, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agents, and secondary
metabolites. These metabolites are beneficial from a medicinal point of view as well. Many studies proved that specific metabolites are released only when they interact with
other microorganisms in their adjacent environment. This is also proved through
chromatography and co-culturing of these microorganisms.
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