MIP 300 Lecture Notes - Human Microbiota, Rumen, Termite
27 Jun 2014
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Document Summary
Organisms that spend any portion of their life associated with an organism of another species. 1 benefits, the other is neither harmed nor benefits. Algae or cyanobacterium provide organic material and o2, photosynthesis. Chemolithotroph autotrophic bacteria use for energy and e- source to fix. Tube worms provide protection and h2s to bacteria. Cattle, sheep, goats etc. eat large quantities of food. Cud is regurgitated, rechewed, becomes liquid, digested like normal mammal. Protozoa in guts digest wood eaten, termite provides shelter and food. Mixotricha paradoxa protozoa in termite gut, symbiotic with at least 7 species of bacteria that function to provide motility. Mixotricha creates a low oxygen environment at its surface when it uses up the o2. Worms (convoluta roscoffensis) provide safe stable living space for algae. Algae fix co2 into organic materials the worm eats. As worm becomes colonized with algae the mouth closes and disappears. Parasitism is the least common type of infection.
