Because they are such fast growers, many bacterial and fungal species are used for industrial-scale production of organic chemicals. Aspergillus niger is commercially grown in aerobic stirred fermenters to produce citric acid, which is used in many industries, including medicine, food flavoring, electroplating, plastics production, and textile printing. It is found naturally in soils. B. thuringiensis produces a protein toxin that will kill over 100 species of moths by dissolving through their gut wall and entering the bloodstream, causing paralysis and death. Recent molecular technology has allowed scientists to take the gene coding for the toxin from B. thuringiensis and express it in a tomato plant, allowing the plant to protect itself without spraying the bacterium onto it.
Soybean is native to southeast Asia and is now cultivated.
This species was collected in the Atlantic Ocean west of Scotland. The Invertebrates , 2nd ed. Biology , 4th ed. Co., Inc., New York.1206 pp. Deep-Sea Biology .