Give general information about microbes.

Explanation

Besides macroscopic plants and animals, microbes are the major components of biological systems on this earth. Microbes are present everywhere in soil, water, air, inside our bodies and that of other animals and plants. Microbes are present even at sites where no other life form could possibly exist - sites such as deep inside the geysers where the temperature may be as high as `100^@C` , deep in the soil under the layers of snow several meters thick and in highly acidic environments.


Microbes are divers - protoza, bacteria, fungi and microscopic animal and plant viruses, viroids and also prions that are proteinacious infectious agents. Microbes like bacteria and many fungi can be grown on nutritive media to farm colonies that can be seen with the naked eyes. Such cultures are useful in studies on microorganisms. Microbes cause a large number of diseases in human beings. They also cause diseases in animals and plants. But all microbes are not harmful, several microbes are useful to man in diverse ways. Some of the most important contributions of microbes to human welfare is modern biotechnology and genetic engineering.