BMB 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Vacuole, Extracellular Polymeric Substance, Anaerobic Organism

• School: University of Maine
• Department: Micro and Molecular Biology
• Course: BMB 240
• Professor: Catherine Hopper

Document Summary

Carbon source: r equired for the synthesis of organic molecules. Energy source: required for chemical, transport, and mechanical work. Autotroph: co2 sole or principal biosynthetic carbon source. Heterotroph: reduced, preformed, organic molecules from other organisms. The main determinants of a microbes nutritional types are its sources of carbon and energy. Starting with an organism"s carbon source: microbes are either heterotrophs or autotrophs. Heterotrophs are organsms that must obtain its carbon in an organic form. An autotroph is an organism that uses inorganic co2 as its carbon source. Because autotrophs have the special capacity to convert co2 into organic compounds, they are not nutritionally dependent on other living things. The next way that microbes are cateforized is via their energy source. Microbes that photosynthesize are phototrophs, and those that gain energy from chemical compounds are chemotrophs. Autotrophs derive energy from one of two possible nonliving sources: sunlight (photoautotrophs), and chemical reactions involving simple chemicals (chemoautotrophs).