• Some bacterial and fungal species are used in the preparation of steroids that are then injected into the human body for different purposes.
• Bacteria help in fermentation which helps in making different forms of dairy products from milk like curd, buttermilk, butter, cheese. Streptococcus is the most common genus of bacteria that are used in the commercial production of this product.
• Certain bacterial and fungal species are used to keep certain insects and pests away from crops.

Process of Decomposition

A complete process of decomposition takes place in five different steps:

Fragmentation – It is the initial stage of decomposition. Fragmentation means the breakdown of detritus into smaller pieces by the detritivores.

Leaching – The fragmented particles may contain a lot of water-soluble nutrients which are inorganic in nature. These nutrients get dissolved in the water and seep into the soil and get precipitated in the process of leaching.

Catabolism -Once the complex material is broken down into smaller particles and the inorganic <a href="https://byjus.com/biology/nutrients/">nutrients</a> are removed, it is time to convert the detritus into simpler inorganic compounds. This process is carried out by various fungal and bacterial enzymes by the process of catabolism.

Humification – It is the process of formation of a dark colored layer of amorphous substance on the soil called humus. It cannot be decomposed easily as it is highly resistant to action by microbes. The layer of humus is very rich in nutrients as it provides high fertility to the soil.

Mineralisation – It is the final step in the process. Mineralisation is the process of the degradation of the hummus to release inorganic nutrients.

Biotechnology can be defined as the use of microorganisms, plants or animal cells or their components to produce products and processes useful to humans.
According to the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), biotechnology is the integration of natural science and organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ‘Biotechnology’ was coined by Karl Ereky in 1919.

In ecology, energy flow refers to the flow of energy through a food chain. In an ecosystem, we attempt to establish the feeding relationships between organisms living together. Each organism belongs to a 'trophic level' which refers to the position occupied by an organism in the food chain. Energy is passed on from every trophic level to the next and each time about 90% of the energy is lost with some being lost as heat into the environment and some being incompletely digested food. So primary consumers get about 10% of the energy produced by autotrophs while secondary consumers get 1% and tertiary consumers get 0,1% .

The techniques, which identifies the bacteria or virus specific antigens in the infected person, can be employed for the early detection of infections much before the symptoms appear in the body.

In this direction, ELISA(Engyme Linked Radio Immuno Assay) and RIA(Radio Immuno Assay) will be apt.

Haploid plants are the plants possessing only a single set of chromosomes in the sporophyte.

In vitro production of haploids is of great significance in plant breeding programmes. By the process of androgenesis to produce haploids, followed by chromosome doubling, it is possible to develop exclusive male plants. The male plants are particularly useful when their productivity and applications are much more than female plants. Disease resistance genes can be introduced while producing haploids.

Hidden hunger means the deficiency of micronutrients due to low intake of vitamins and minerals. The effects of the deficiency are not visible and the person may seem alright thus it is called hidden hunger.                           

The culture medium (nutrient medium) can be referred to as a ‘highly enriched laboratory soil’ because in culture medium we must provide a carhon source such as sucrose and also inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids and growth regulators like auxins, cytpkinins etc.

Vectorless Gene Transfer is when no vector is udes to transfer the desired gene into the host organism. Following are common methods of vectorless gene transfer.
1. Microinjection. Microinjection is the process/technique of introducing foreign genes into a host cell by injecting the DNA directly into the nucleus by using microneedle or micropipette.
2.Use of specific concentraion of divalent cations. specific concentration of divalent cations improves the efficiency of the cells to take up DNA. The divalent cation make the cells competent and thus recombinant DNA can be forced into the cell.
3. Gene Gun or biolistic is the technique of bombarding the cells with microprojectiles (gold or tungsten particles) coated with the foreign DNA with great velocity .

Cellular oncogenes  or Proto oncogenes are normal genes which are present in the body and regulate growth and differentiation.
Due to some modifications the proto oncogenes are activated and transformed into oncogenes or viral oncogenes.