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Prokaryotic Metabolism

How prokaryotes get energy and nutrients. Chemotrophs and phototrophs. Heterotrophs and autotrophs. Key points: Some prokaryotes are phototrophs, getting energy from the sun. Others are chemotrophs, getting energy from chemical compounds. Some prokaryotes are autotrophs, fixing carbon from CO2​. Others are heterotrophs, getting carbon from organic compounds of other organisms.

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91 views17 pages

Prokaryotic Metabolism

How prokaryotes get energy and nutrients. Chemotrophs and phototrophs. Heterotrophs and autotrophs. Key points: Some prokaryotes are phototrophs, getting energy from the sun. Others are chemotrophs, getting energy from chemical compounds. Some prokaryotes are autotrophs, fixing carbon from CO2​. Others are heterotrophs, getting carbon from organic compounds of other organisms.

Uploaded by

Asif qaisrani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Prokaryotic

Metabolism
Prokaryote metabolism
• How prokaryotes get energy and nutrients. Chemotrophs and
phototrophs. Heterotrophs and autotrophs.
• Key points:
• Some prokaryotes are phototrophs, getting energy from the sun.
Others are chemotrophs, getting energy from chemical compounds.
• Some prokaryotes are autotrophs, fixing carbon from CO2​.
• Others are heterotrophs, getting carbon from organic compounds of
other organisms.
Prokaryote metabolism
• Prokaryotes may perform aerobic (oxygen-requiring)
or anaerobic (non-oxygen-based) metabolism, and some can switch
between these modes.
• Some prokaryotes have special enzymes and pathways that let them
metabolize nitrogen- or sulfur-containing compounds.
• Prokaryotes play key roles in the cycling of nutrients through
ecosystems.
• Prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) are way
more diverse than humans in their
nutritional strategies – that is, the ways
they obtain fixed carbon (fuel molecules)
and energy. Some species consume organic
material like dead plants and animals.
Others live off of inorganic compounds in
Introduction rocks. One bacterium, Thiobacillus
concretivorans, consumes metal-melting
sulfuric acid!
• In this Presentation, we will take a closer
look at the many ways that prokaryotes
obtain and metabolize food, and how they
can influence cycling of nutrients.
• All of Earth’s life forms need
energy and fixed carbon (carbon
incorporated into organic
molecules) to build the
macromolecules that make up
Nutritional their cells. This applies to
humans, plants, fungi, and, of
modes course, prokaryotes. Living
organisms can be categorized by
how they obtain energy and
carbon.
• First, we can categorize organisms by where
they get fixed (usable) carbon:
• Organisms that fix carbon from carbon dioxide
or other inorganic compounds are
called autotrophs.
• Organisms that get fixed carbon from organic
Nutritional compounds made by other organisms (by
eating the organisms or their by-products) are
modes called heterotrophs.
• In addition, we can categorize organisms by
where they get energy:
• Organisms that use the light (mainly the sun)
as a source of energy are called phototrophs.
• Organisms that use chemicals as a source of
energy are called chemotrophs.
We can divide prokaryotes •We tend to be pretty familiar with
(and other organisms) into photoautotrophs, such as plants, and
chemoheterotrophs, such as humans and other
four different categories animals. Prokaryote species fall into these two
categories, as well as the two less familiar
based on their energy and categories (photoheterotrophs and
chemoautotrophs) to which plants and animals

carbon sources: don't belong.


Aerobic respiration

• Another metabolic area in which


prokaryotes differ from humans (and are
much more diverse than us!) is their need
for oxygen. Some need it, some are
poisoned by it, and some can take it or
leave it depending on availability.
• Prokaryotes that need in order to
metabolize are called obligate aerobes.
Humans are also obligate aerobes (as
you've found out if you've tried to hold
your breath for too long).
Anaerobic respiration
• Prokaryotes that can't tolerate and only perform anaerobic metabolism
are called obligate anaerobes. C. botulinum, the bacterium that causes
botulism (a form of food poisoning) when it grows in canned food, is
an obligate anaerobe – which is why it multiplies well inside of sealed
cans.
Facultative anaerobes
• Facultative anaerobes use
aerobic metabolism when O, is
present, but switch to anaerobic
metabolism if it's absent. The
bacteria that cause staph and
strep infections are examples of
facultative anaerobes.
Image credit: "Clostridium
botulinum,
" by the U. S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (Public
Health Image Library), public
domain
Sulfur and nitrogen
metabolism

• Some bacteria and archaea have


metabolic pathways that allow them to
metabolize nitrogen and sulfur in ways
that eukaryotes cannot.
• In some cases, they use nitrogen- or
sulfur-containing molecules to obtain
energy, but in other cases, they expend
energy to convert these molecules from
one form to another.
Sulfur
metabolism
• Some fascinating examples of sulfur-
metabolizing prokaryotes are found
in deep-sea ecosystems. For
instance, certain prokaryotic species
can oxidize hydrogen sulfide H2​S
from piping hot hydrothermal vents.
They use energy released in this
process to fix inorganic carbon from
the water into sugars and other
organic molecules in a process called
chemosynthesis.
Sulfur metabolism

• Sulfur-metabolizing prokaryotes form


the basis of food chains in their deep-sea
habitats (where not the tiniest ray of light
can reach to support photosynthesis).
The sulfur metabolizers support entire
communities of organisms, including
worms, crabs, and shrimp, thousands of
meters below the ocean surface
Nitrogen metabolism

• Nitrogen-metabolizing
prokaryotes include nitrogen
fixers, nitrifiers, and denitrifiers.
They play key roles in the
nitrogen cycle by converting
nitrogen compounds from one
chemical form to another.
Nitrogen metabolism
• Nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes convert (“fix”)
atmospheric nitrogen N2 ​into ammonia NH3​,
which plants and other organisms can incorporate
into organic molecules. Some plant species in the
legume family, such as peas, form mutually
beneficial relationships (mutualisms) with
nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The plants house and feed
the bacteria in structures called root nodules, and
the bacteria provide fixed nitrogen to the roots.
• Other prokaryotes in the soil, called nitrifying
bacteria, convert the ammonia into other types of
compounds (nitrates and nitrites), which may also
be absorbed by plants. Denitrifying
prokaryotes do more or less the reverse, turning
nitrates into N2​gas.
Thanks

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