Abstract
Life on Earth depends on “inconspicuous microbes”. More “photosynthesis is carried out by microbes than by green plants”. Microbes “constitute about half of Earth’s biomass”. The functionally active unit is not a single species but rather a consortium in biofilms where bacteria communicate and coordinate themselves. The protective matrix of biofilms functions like a primitive circulatory system. Biofilms on vegetables deter pathogen and grazers, alert neighboring plants to the presence of a threat, and “trigger protective responses like the closing of stomata”. Microbial communities in animals are associated with the collaboration of microorganisms in degrading lignin and cellulose by the coordinate effort of complex microbial consortia in interspecies processes that benefit both microbes and the animal host. Globally, food processing by animals is like a giant incubator, where culturable and nonculturable beneficial microorganisms dwell and reproduce. Humans are frequently responsible for destabilizing microbial communities by changing their food sources, composition or altering homeostatic conditions.
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Zaccheo, A., Palmaccio, E., Venable, M., Locarnini-Sciaroni, I., Parisi, S. (2017). The Bacteria. In: Food Hygiene and Applied Food Microbiology in an Anthropological Cross Cultural Perspective. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44975-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44975-3_5
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