Microbiology and Bio-Economy
(ASM News 2012. vol 7:156)
"National Bioeconomy Blueprint" issued by US OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy) : For administration-wide steps to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment."
- Are MICROBES essential to the emerging bioeconomy?
- Yes, because they are:
● A virtually inexhaustible source of biodiversity, metabolic ingenuity, and natural products;
● Workhorses for the production of industrial catalysts and pharmaceuticals from insulin to antibiotics to vaccines to probiotics;
● A promising source of the next generation of environmentally and politically neutral fuels;
● Required partners for all plant growth, making microbes an untapped resource for adapting crops to grow in more places with fewer inputs;
● Critical drivers of the Earth's biogeochemical cycles and therefore important players in the climate change realm, both as sentinels and, potentially, as mitigators;
● Providers of the chassis and parts sets for synthetic biology;
● The ultimate model organisms for molecular and cellular biology, making possible the spectacular advances in health and biotechnology born out of those disciplines.
