Bacterial Communities in Microwave Ovens

• 12 Aug 2024

Source: Nature

Microorganisms thriving in extreme environments like microwave ovens have been studied to understand their evolutionary adaptations.

• Key Findings:
  • The dominant ones belonged to the Bacillus, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus genera, which commonly live on human skin and surfaces that people frequently touch.
  • A few bacteria types associated with food-borne illnesses, including Klebsiella and Brevundimonas, also grew in household microwaves.
  • Laboratory microwave ovens contained the greatest genetic diversity (variation in genes within a species) of bacteria. 
• Microwave heating uses electromagnetic waves (300 MHz to 300 GHz) to generate heat and inactivate most microorganisms in food.
• Bacteria: 
  • Bacteria are microscopic living organisms that have only one cell. It has various shapes like spheres, rods, and spirals. They can be good or bad.
    • Good Bacteria: Some are found in the intestines and help break down food and prevent constipation and diarrhoea like Bifidobacteria.
    • Bad Bacteria: Some of them cause diseases like Typhoid fever by Salmonella Typhi.
  • Extremophiles are organisms that can survive and even thrive, in the harshest of environments, including inside scorching hydrothermal vents, sub-zero Antarctic ice and the crushing pressures of Earth’s crust. 

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