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Things That Go Rot In The Night - Microbiology Today: August 2003 issue

July 17, 2003

Many people are completely unaware of the way in which microbes ‘spoil’ so many materials that we use in our everyday lives, according to an article published in the August issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine for the Society for General Microbiology. This spoilage, known as biodeterioration, is defined as the deterioration of materials of economic importance by microbes.

A whole range of commercial materials is susceptible to the physical and chemical degradative activities of microbes, including timber, plastics, fuels, metal working fluids, concrete and emulsion paints. The methods of biodeterioration used by microbes involve the ‘digestion’ of the materials as food and the breakdown of the materials by various microbial secretions. “Surprisingly, there are not many materials that are truly resistant to biodeterioration”, explains Professor Glyn Morton of the University of Central Lancashire.

In the feature, Professor Morton describes several common examples of biodeterioration. He also explains that the success of microbes in the degradation of so many materials is due, on the large part, to biofilms. These are a build up of microbes and slime on any surface and once established they are difficult to remove. Biodeterioration is usually controlled with biocides (disinfectants) and this chemical treatment of materials can lead to environmental problems. Professor Morton believes that “significant changes in the methods used to prevent biodeterioration are clearly needed”. Meanwhile the war against microbes persists, and it will be a long and expensive campaign.

Other features in the August issue of Microbiology Today include:
Everything you wanted to know about the dry-rot fungus but were afraid to ask (page 107)
Lichens, agents of monumental destruction (page 110)
Conservation of monumental stones by bacterial biomineralization (page 113)
Sulfate-reducing bacteria in biofilms on metallic materials and corrosion (page 115)
The Biodeterioration Centre, University of Hertfordshire (page 118)
Pilzkrieg: the German wartime quest for penicillin (page 120)
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (page 124)

Society for General Microbiology