Fast-growing organisms

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the competition for iron between iron-binding proteins of the animal and the siderophores of bacterial parasites. This discussion will be limited to two bacterial species—a slow-growing organism Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a fast-growing organism Escherichia coli. Both organisms produce specific siderophores which have been defined chemically and physically. Myco-bactin, the siderophore of M. tuberculosis, because of its hydrophobic nature, is associated mostly with the lipoidal cell wall of the tubercle bacillus (11) whereas enterochelin (enterobactin), the siderophore of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium, is soluble in water and is rapidly lost by the bacterial cell into the surrounding medium (12, 13). 

Growth is rapid and many systems develop their adult cell number and composition throughout the first year of life. Optimal nutrition is thus most critical in this early period. Milk - the only source of food for the offspring of all mammals in the early months of life - cannot meet the demands of optimal growth later on in the first year of life. This is especially so with the essential elements such as iron and manganese whose low content in milk (18-23) does not meet the needs of a fast growing organism (24-27). 

It should be fast growing to avoid chances of contamination by other fast-growing organisms. 

Plants are selected according to application needs and the contaminants concerned. For phytodegradation of organics, the design requirements are that vegetation is fast growing and hardy, easy... 

The composition of cutin shows species specificity although cutin from most plants contains different types of mixtures of the C16 and C18 family of acids. Composition of cutin can vary with the anatomical location. For example, cutin preparations from fruit, leaf, stigma, and flower petal of Malus pumila contain 73%, 35%, 14%, and 12%, respectively, of hydroxy and hydroxy-epoxy C18 monomers [23]. In general, fast-growing plant organs have higher content of C16 family of monomers. 

---