Bacterial Culture and Microbial Energy

Flashcards for lecture review.

Essential Nutrients

Nutrients a microbe cannot make for itself, but must gather from its environment.

Macronutrients

Nutrients needed in large quantities (Carbon, Magnesium, Nitrogen, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, Hydrogen, Calcium, Oxygen, Sulfur)

Micronutrients

Nutrients needed in small quantities (Cobalt, Copper, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Zinc)

Enriched media

Complex media to which specific blood components are added.

Selective media

Media that favor the growth of one organism over another.

Differential media

Media that exploit differences between two species that grow equally well.

Rickettsia Prowazekii

Agent of Typhus Fever, endemic in flying squirrels, spread through arthropods (lice feces), only grows in eukaryotic cytoplasm.

Heterotrophs

Rely on other organisms for carbon.

Autotrophs

Can reduce CO2 for carbon.

Phototrophy

Energy triggered by light.

Chemotrophy

Energy from oxidation-reduction reactions.

Lithotrophy

Inorganic molecules as electron source.

Organotrophy

Organic molecules as electron source.

AUTO-

CO2 is reduced for Carbon.

HETERO-

Pre-formed carbon source.

PHOTO-

Light captures energy.

CHEMO-

Oxidation-reduction for energy.

LITHO-

Inorganic electron donors.

ORGANO-

Organic electron donors.

Membrane Potential

Chemical Electrical Potential.

Nitrogen Fixation

Nitrogen gas in the atmosphere (N2) must be converted into a useable form; ammonium (NH4 +) – “fixed.”

Rhizobium

Grow symbiotically within root nodule cells of legumes (beans, lentils, peas, soybeans, peanuts).