Utilizing the Environmental DNA to estimate the bacterial amount in the environment

Development of retromicrobiology in the process of bacterial

Now we are entering a new era where the development of microbiology and biotechnology is synergized to produce various cutting-edge methods to improve the ease of life for human. In the past period, the branch of microbiology has long developed earlier than biotechnology. One method developed in the field of microbiology is the method of counting the number of bacteria present in the environment. Some traces of research have resulted in information on retromicrobiology that utilizes cells as a basis for calculating the number of bacteria in the environment, both living cells and dead cells. One of the long-standing retromicrobiological methods is the method of calculating bacteria using living cell colonies that have been bred for a certain period of time by optimizing their living conditions. However, this method becomes difficult to validate due to several limitations. Some of them are only living cells that can be grown on bacterial culture media. Some researchers say that no more than one percent of the bacteria that can be cultured in this process. So, this method is considered inaccurate for researchers to be able to count the number of bacteria.

In its development, the researchers tried to increase the level of accuracy of the method of calculating the number of bacteria. Various methods have been carried out either through the use of different media and optimal temperatures for the breeding process. However, it is realized that the method was lack effective and efficient to carry out the process of calculating bacteria. One of the phenomenal methods of development is the calculation of cell-based bacteria using special dyes to be observed directly under a microscope. Some chemicals are known to bind to bacterial cell walls, so they will create a certain color glow so that it can reflect the color that is on the microscope. Thus, bacterial cells can be easily observed. Some of these chemicals include: Acridine Orange (3,6-bis (dimethylamino) acridinium chloride), DAPI (4 ', 6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole, Dihydrochloride), and so forth. But this method is still considered complicated, because it requires accuracy in the process of cell counting which must still be done manually.

Hybridization of Microbiology and Biotechnology to estimate the bacterial number

In recent years, the branch of biotechnology has grown rapidly. This development raised several new methods that are able to displace the old methods that are considered obsolete. With this development, several methods in microbiology also experienced shifts and evictions. One of the victims of this shift is the emergence of a new method of calculating the number of bacteria based on the presence of the bacterial environmental DNA. This turned out to be able to get rid of ancient colonies and cell-based calculation methods that have been developed in microbiology. The latest facts state that living things will release their DNA into the environment during their lifetime. Thus, the traces of his life will be traced through the DNA of the environment. That's what researchers are currently using to improve the accuracy of bacterial calculation methods, based on their environmental DNA. The slow stirring method developed by Professor Motoki Kubo (Professor of Bioengineering at Ritsumeikan University in Japan), presents the fact that the use of good DNA extraction methods can produce relatively intact DNA extracts. Thus, the mass of bacterial DNA can be used to estimate the amount of bacteria present in the environment. This method is feasible to be widely applied, because it does not require a long time and all processes are carried out automatically using a computer application.