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Heroes behind the musty/ earthy smell of soil during rains...

  • Writer: Bioblogs
    Bioblogs
  • May 2, 2020
  • 2 min read

Have you ever wondered who's behind that musty odor??? What it can be, an animal? or plants?? Well, a micro-organism, a bacteria known as actinomyces, responsible for that. Let's learn everything about them...

Actinomyces is the genus of Actinobacteria class of bacteria. It is the bacteria that looks like fungi. Also, it highly contributes in the production of most of the natural antibiotics. They produces some kind of metabolites which are used as cancer drugs, antihistamines and as immuno-suppressants for those who have had organ transplantation.

They may have very complex life-cycle, some life-cycle includes filamentous cells called hyphae and spores too. When growing on a surface like agar or soil they forms a network of hyphae. The interesting thing about them is they not only grows over the surface of agar or soil but also beneath it. And forms the dense hyphae network on both sides, the network beneath known as substrate mycelium.


Sometimes the substrate hyphae below the surface can form aerial mycelium, that extends above the surface of mycelium and this is the time the medically useful substances are formed, because the physiology of actinomyces have switched into the special cell type, and now those compounds / metabolites known as secondary metabolites.

The aerial hyphae forms thin-walled spores and these spores are exospores and not endospores as they are did not develop from the mother cell.

Spore formation in them is due to nutrient deprivation where as in other bacteria this is a usual kind of process. Their spores have high adaptive value. Spores are usually non-motile and dispersion through animals or wind and if motile flagella is present.

Their functions-

1) Degrade/decompose all sorts of organic substances like cellulose, polysaccharides, proteins fats, organic aids etc. But the organic substances first degraded by other bacteria and fungi and then actinomyces attack as they are slow processors.

2) They can decompose the most resistant and indecomposable organic substances, and produces number of dark black and brown patches in the soil humus. Thus, also responsible for the dark color of soil humus.

3) Responsible for making number of natural antibiotics, eg,- streptomycin, terramycin, aureomycin etc.


One of the species of actinomyces called nocardia, causes slowly progressive pneumonia in humans and also causes other types of diseases.







 
 
 

2 Comments


ahujayash272
Jul 26, 2020
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ahujayash272
Jul 26, 2020

play mitti di khushbu in background

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