Recent Developments in Microbiology

Abstract

Research in microbiology is a dynamic and exciting field, and this review article outlines some recent significant developments within microbiology including using shotgun metagenomics to uncover the connection between diet and lifestyle and superbug infections, the current state of Ebola virus diagnostic tests, and the potential of treating superbug infections via innovative phage virus therapy as an alternative to antibiotics. This review also explores two studies using the CRISPR gene editing technique, which has been a revolution within microbiology. The first study undergoes genetic engineering of potatoes to improve their nutritional and industrial applications, which has important implications in improving food stability as well as bolstering production. The second study utilizes CRISPR to engineer bacteria to kill themselves on command, which is important to prevent the excessive spread bacteria that are used for a variety of applications from eating plastic waste in the environment to treating the diseased human gut. Engineering these so-called ‘kill switch’ allows these bacteria to be utilized for their intended purpose without growing uncontrollably in the environment or in the gut.