Microbial biotechnology

For thousands of years, microorganisms have been used to supply products su ch as bread, beer and wine. A second phase of traditional microbial biotech nology began during World War I and resulted in the development of the acet one-butanol and glycerol fermentations, followed by processes yielding, for example, citric acid, vitamins and antibiotics. In the early 1970s, tradit ional industrial microbiology was merged with molecular biology to yield mo re than 40 biopharmaceutical products, such as erythropoietin, human growth hormone and interferons. Today, microbiology is a major participant in glo bal industry, especially in the pharmaceutical, food and chemical industrie s.