Fascinating microbes: Pseudomonas putida

I learned in my college that you cannot patient a microorganism which is present in nature, however you can patient an organism if you genetically mutate it. Well I found out that it's quite not true, after I stumbled upon a webpage containing info about Pseudomonas putida.

Pseudomonas putida is the first organism which is patented. After reading about it I discovered that it is quite an amazing microbe. And that is why I am adding it to my list of ‘fascinating microbes’.

Today polyaromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs are a nuisance as they are potent pollutants. They are found in soil, oily substances etc. The most common examples of these are anthracene and phenanthere. They were considered as non-biodegradable until P. putida comes into picture. Yes, it can degrade PAHs.

It has a very diverse metabolism. And this organism is put into use in areas like biodegradation, bioremediation and also in synthesis of biodegradable plastics.

Pseudomonas putida is a rod-shaped, nonsporeforming, gram-negative bacteria that utilizes aerobic metabolism. The good thing about this organism is that it does not cause any infections to human beings, yet.

This organism is my favorite organism, well, I kinda like anything that helps our environment. This organism  will be very helpful in future as the amount of pollutants are increasing rapidly.

As they say ‘one man can make a difference’, I say ‘one microbe can make a difference’ :]