[填空题]Most people consider bacteria dangerous. After all, these microorganisms cause a host of serious human diseases, including tuberculosis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and food poisoning. In fact, however, only a small percentage of bacteria cause diseases, while many bacteria are actually beneficial to humans. For example, doctors use bacteria to produce vaccines and other medicines. Bacteria are also critical to many industrial processes, from fermenting wine to recycling wastes, and scientists use bacteria to study many of the biological processes common to all living things.
With such a wide variety of economic and scientific applications, it is no surprise that several laboratories around the United States grow and sell bacteria as a crop. These laboratories use specialized farming techniques to produce one of the nation’s most valuable biological commodities.
Like plants, bacteria have specific growth requirements. In particular, they need a place to grow and they need