They Do It Too? Yep.

Dear Author,
There isn’t much of an argument that, unless you took some sort of biology class in high school or college, you aren’t going to know about microbes and how they live their lives. But there are the many people who have devoted their lives to studying, teaching, and working in the fields of biology. These are the people that tell us interesting facts like the fact that humans and animals aren’t the only ones who have sex, the little things we call microbes do, too. I completely agree, if it weren't for the biological minds of our planet, the rest of us would be lost in a world filled with life we don't know a thing about. Microbes reproduce, kinda of like we do. They find a partner, which may or may not be of the same species and multiply. Some of the outcomes of microbe reproductions can be beneficial to humans and other living things, while others may be harmful.
One of the many organisms that have been beneficial to our world is a soil organism known as Pseudomonas. This organism is a genetically modified, or genetically engineered, organism (GMO, GEO). Pseudomonas is an organism that helps prevent ice from forming on plants, which leads to death of the plant. Although Pseudomonas is beneficial, it could potentially be harmful to the plants also. Stopping the process of ice forming on plants could lead to lack of water being transferred into the clouds.

Numerous sciences and technologies are using microbes to enhance our lives and to help better the environment. For example, Genomatica, a company that is leading the “green” industry by producing materials made from chemicals rather than oil and gas, has engineered a microbe that helps change trash into plastic. According to Sign On San Diego, “Genomatia has already genetically engineered a bacteria to feed on sugar and make a chemical typically produced from oil and natural gas” (Sign On San Diego). The reason this microbe is important is because it will not only reduce the amount of waste in landfills, but will also help with the production of plastic. Many technologies and industries could potentially advance using genetically engineered microorganisms.

So, is sex among microbes a good or bad thing? Personally I would argue for it both being good and bad. It all just depends on how they are reproducing. Microbes that reproduce on their own all have different outcomes, some could be very advantageous to our environment, others may not, but we have no control over any of that. I do agree that microbes that we, as humans, create though, could be very benefitial. For example, the combination of E.coli and Salmonella, is benefitial in producing insulin (Reynolds 1). Although I do agree that some microbial reproduction can be good, I could also agree that some can be bad. Microbe reproduction that could lead into a bad situation would be ones that we, as humans, create. The genetically engineered organisms that scientists, or even people who think they know what they are doing, could easily have something go wrong that would end in disaster. Or in a much worse situation, anyone with the will and tools to do so can use GMOs as a bioterrorism attack such as anthrax.

Roughly three years ago I knew close to nothing about the biological world. Here I am today sitting in a college level microbiology class and know more than I would have ever imagined back in my sophomore biology class. A subject that is very relatable to all of us in the class is the relationship between sex and microbes. In no way am I saying that we are all promiscuous teenage college students, but whose to say that all of us know everything there is to know about sex? We definitely don’t know much about the microbial connection to what we learned about in our health classes. We need more people to know about not only the factors of sex among humans and microbes who play a role in that case, but also how microbes themselves also reproduce and what kind of advantages, or disadvantages, we can get from their reproduction.
Sincerely,
Adelina Gomez

Article: http://www.wcponline.com/pdf/September%20On%20Tap.pdf
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