The microbial genome

Abstract

The microbial genome is the complete sequence of all the microbial genes. Its knowledge permits a better understanding of the pathology caused by the organism, with applications in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infeccious diseases. Understanding the dynamics of invasion mechanisms, toxin production, capacities to adapt to adverse ecosystems and other possibilities of variation could be used to design more specific vaccines and/or inter-species combinations. Furthermore using avirulent forms which can be easily cultivated on an industrial scale to produce antigens of bacteria with a more fastidious growth. In the field of antibiotics it opens the possibilities of new absolutely distinct lines of drugs capables of blocking determined vital metabolic chains. There already exists multiple applications of genetics in microbiological diagnosis, with techniques that undoubtably will be simplified and perfectioned with the knowledge of the complete gene sequence, using hybridization, PCR, etc. Ultimately the knowledge of the genome permits the beneficial utilization on an industrial scale of some microbes in the production of hormones, vitamins, amino-acids and antibiotics.