Respiration electron acceptors

Type of respirer Electron acceptor Product Distribution of ability s... 

SRB, a diverse group of anaerobic bacteria isolated from a variety of environments, use sulfate in the absence of oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor in respiration. During biofilm formation, if the aerobic respiration rate within a biofilm is greater than the oxygen diffusion rate, the metal/biofilm interface can become anaerobic and provide a niche for sulfide production by SRB. The critical thickness of the biofilm required to produce anaerobie conditions depends on the availability of oxygen and the rate of respiration. The corrosion rate of iron and copper alloys in the presence of hydrogen sulfide is accelerated by the formation of iron sulfide minerals that stimulate the cathodic reaction. 

Chlorate can serve as electron acceptor under anaerobic conditions (Thorell et al. 2003 Coates et al. 1999), and chlorate reductase has been found both in organisms such as Proteus mirabilis that can reduce chlorate but is unable to use to couple this to growth, and in true chlorate-respiring organisms. 

Carpentier W, L De Smet, J Van Beeuman, A Brige (2005) Respiration and growth of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 using vanadate as the sole electron acceptor. J Bacterial 187 3293-3301. 

Lie TJ, T Pitta, ER Leadbetter, W Godchaux, JR Leadbetter (1996) Sulfonates novel electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration. Arch Microbiol 166 204-210. 

Aerobic respiration, in which oxygen is required as a terminal electron acceptor... 

Obviously the redox poise in biological systems is very important and the movement of selenium through this process has been investigated for denitrifiers such as Paracoccus denitrificans,159 a specialized selenate-respiring bacterium Thauera selenatis which used selenate as the sole electron acceptor,160,161 and phototrophic bacteria which produced different reduced forms of selenium when amended with either selenite or selenate and even added insoluble elemental Se.162 As noted above, Andreesen has commented on the importance of redox active selenocysteines135 and Jacob et al.136 note the importance of the thioredoxin system to redox poise. 

Hong Y, Xu M, Guo J et al (2007) Respiration and growth of Shewanella decolorations S12 with an azo compound as the sole electron acceptor. Appl Env Microbiol 73 64—72... 

By analogy to higher animals, we might expect that respiring microbes would use reduced carbon compounds as electron donors and O2 as the electron acceptor indeed, aerobic bacteria that do just this are common in oxic environments. Microbes, however, are notably versatile, employing H2, H2S, NHj", CH4, Fe++, and many other species as electron donors. They can similarly use SO4-, NO3, NO2, HCOJ, and so on as electron acceptors. The microbes can even use ferric... 

In environments lacking a suitable external electron acceptor - such as dioxygen, sulfate, or ferric iron - respiration is not possible. Here, many organic compounds may be metabolized by fermenting microorganisms. Microbes of this class may create ATP by a direct coupling mechanism, using a process known as substrate level phosphorylation, SLP with an ion translocation mechanism like that employed by respirers, as already described or by a combination of SLP and ion translocation.1... 

Blum et al. (1998) isolated a bacterial strain Bacillus arsenicoselenatis from muds of Mono Lake, ahypersaline alkaline lake in northern California (see Section 24.2). Under anaerobic conditions in saline water, over an optimum pH range of 8.5-10, the strain can respire using As(V), or arsenate, as the electron acceptor, reducing it to As(III), arsenite. 

Fig. 33.1. Results of a batch experiment (symbols) by Blum et al. (1998) in which Bacillus arsenicoselenatis grows on lactate, using arsenate [As(V)] as an electron acceptor. Solid lines show results of integrating a kinetic rate model describing microbial respiration and growth.

These energy-producing reactions are termed respiration processes. They require the presence of an external compound that can serve as the terminal electron acceptor of the electron transport chain. However, under anaerobic conditions, fermentation processes that do not require the participation of an external electron acceptor can also proceed. In this case, the organic substrate undergoes a balanced series of oxidative and reductive reactions, i.e., organic matter reduced in one step of the process is oxidized in another. 

As a result, the partial breakdown of the organic matter by fermentation yields organic products with a low molecular weight, e.g., VFAs, along with C02. Compared with the aerobic respiration, the fermentation is inefficient however, these fermentation products can to some extent, and in addition to fermentable substrate, be used by the sulfate-reducing bacteria that make use of sulfate as the terminal electron acceptor (Nielsen and Hvitved-Jacobsen, 1988). In the absence of sulfate, the methanogenic bacteria utilize the low molecular... 

Highly halogenated organic compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls and perchloroethylene appear to be too highly oxidised and low in energy content to serve as sources of electrons and energy for microbial metabolism. Bacteria are more likely to use them as electron acceptors in cell-membrane-based respiration processes [154]. The environmental fate of halogenated polymers such as polyvinylchloride or Teflon may depend on the question of whether it will be appropriate to sustain de-halorespiration processes. 

In the case of fermentation, the carbon and energy source is broken down by a series of enzyme-mediated reactions that do not involve an electron transport chain. In aerobic respiration, the carbon and energy source is broken down by a series of enzyme-mediated reactions in which oxygen serves as an external electron acceptor. In anaerobic respiration, the carbon and energy source is broken down by a series of enzyme-mediated reactions in which sulfates, nitrates, and carbon dioxide serve... 

The bacterium Pseudomonas denitrificans is capable of this kind of metabolism utilizing nitrate as a terminal electron acceptor rather than oxygen. This bacterium can use oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor if it is available, and aerobic respiration is more efficient than anaerobic respiration. 

Lovley DR, Coates JD, Blunt-Harris EL, Phillips EJP, Woodward JC (1996) Humic substances as electron acceptors for microbial respiration. Nature 382 445-448 Lowenstam HA (1981) Minerals formed by organisms. Science 211 1126-1131... 

Recent research has identified some other microbial routes for denitrification that are not heterotrophic. One, called the anammox reaction, involves the oxidation of ammonium to N2 using either nitrite or nitrate as the electron donor. The second has bacteria using Mn " to reduce nitrate to N2. As noted earlier, N2 is generated by the oxidation of ammonium using Mn02 as the electron acceptor. [Denitrification may also be supported by Fe " (aq) oxidation.] These reactions are summarized in Table 12.2. The overall consequence of these reactions is that ammonium does not accumulate in the pore waters where Mn respiration and denitrification are occurring. 

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