Microbiolog Microbial nutrition

y Dr. Beriwan A.
Ali
Lecturer PhD. Manchester University, England, UK.
Medical Microbiologist MSc. Salahaddin University, Erbil, Iraq.
Erbil Medical Institute BSc. Salahaddin University, Erbil, Iraq.
Erbil Polytechnic University
Kirkuk Road
Erbil-Iraq

Lecturer
TISHK Int.University
100 Meters Road
Erbil-Iraq
GBD Collaborator
Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
USA
 Microbial
Nutrition
Nutrition – process by which chemical substances
(nutrients) are acquired from the environment and used
for cellular activities
Essential nutrients - must be provided to an or
Organism to Survive and Reproduce:
• Macronutrients – required in large quantities; play principal
roles in cell structure and metabolism.
,
• Micronutrients or trace elements – required in
small amounts; involved in enzyme function and
maintenance of protein structure

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Nutrients
• Inorganic nutrients– atom or molecule that contains a
combination of atoms other than carbon and hydrogen
• metals and their salts (magnesium sulfate, ferric
nitrate, sodium phosphate), gases (oxygen, carbon
dioxide) and water
• Organic nutrients- contain carbon and hydrogen
atoms and are usually the products of living things
• methane (CH4), carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and
nucleic
acids

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Chemical Analysis of Microbial
Cytoplasm

• 70% water
• Proteins
• 96% of cell is composed of 6 elements:
• carbon
• hydrogen
• oxygen
• phosphorous
• sulfur
• nitrogen
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Sources of Essential Nutrients

• Carbon sources
• Heterotroph – must obtain carbon in an
organic form such as proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids,
made by other living organisms
•Autotroph - an organism that uses CO2, an
inorganic gas as its carbon source
• not nutritionally dependent on other
living things

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 (Organic Compounds vs Inorganic Compounds)
• Organic Compounds
are chemical compounds composed of one or more
carbon atoms bonded to other elements like hydrogen,
oxygen, or nitrogen.
Inorganic Compounds
are compounds consisting of two or more elements,
usually other than carbons, that are linked together in
definite proportions and lack .
Sources of Essential Nutrients
Nitrogen Sources
• Main reservoir is nitrogen gas (N2); 79% of earth’s
atmosphere is N2.
• Nitrogen is part of the structure of proteins, DNA,
RNA & ATP – these are the primary source of N for
heterotrophs.
• Some bacteria & algae use inorganic N nutrients (NO 3-,
NO2-, or NH 3).
• Some bacteria can fix N2.
• Regardless of how N enters the cell, it must be converted
to NH3, the only form that can be combined with
carbon to synthesis amino acids, etc.
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Sources of Essential Nutrients

Oxygen Sources
• Major component of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic
acids, and proteins
• Plays an important role in structural and enzymatic
functions of cell
• Component of inorganic salts (sulfates, phosphates,
nitrates) and water
• Essential to metabolism of many organisms

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Sources of Essential Nutrients
Hydrogen Sources
• Major element in all organic compounds and several
inorganic ones (water, salts and gases)
• Gases are produced and used by microbes.
• Roles of hydrogen:
• maintaining pH
• forming H bonds between molecules
• serving as the source of free energy in oxidation-
reduction reactions of respiration

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Sources of Essential Nutrients

Phosphorous (Phosphate Sources)

• Main inorganic source is phosphate (PO 4-3) derived from
phosphoric acid (H3PO4) found in rocks
and oceanic
mineral deposits
• Key component of nucleic acids,
essential to genetics
• Serves in energy transfers (ATP)

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Sources of Essential Nutrients

Sulfur Sources
• Widely distributed in environment, rocks;
sediments contain sulfate, sulfides, hydrogen
sulfide gas and sulfur
• Essential component of some vitamins and
the amino acids: methionine and cysteine
• Contributes to stability of proteins by forming
disulfide bonds

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Other Nutrients Important in
Microbial Metabolism
essential to protein synthesis and membrane
function
important to some types of cell transport
– cell wall and endospore stabilizer
– component of chlorophyll; membrane and
ribosome stabilizer
– component of proteins of cell
respiration
, etc.
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Essential Organic Nutrients

• Organic compounds that cannot be synthesized by

an organism because they lack the genetic and
metabolic mechanisms to synthesize them.
• Must be provided as a nutrient
• Essential amino acids, vitamins

Is an organic compound that a cell must have to grow

but that it is unable to synthesize.

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Summar
y
• Microorganisms can synthesize all of the building
blocks for macromolecules in the presence of all the
nutrients.

• E.g amino acids, nitrogen basis (purines and

pyrimidines), carbohydrates, fatty acid.
 Environmental Factors That Influence
Microbes
• Environmental factors fundamentally affect the
function of metabolic enzymes.
• Factors include:
Environmental Factors (physical
conditions) affecting Bacterial Growth:
1. pH (Hydrogen-Ion concentration)
Some bacteria live in acidic medium (low pH) and
others live in alkaline pH (high pH).
Yet, majority of bacteria are neutral in their
pH requirements.

Effects of pH: Majority of microorganisms grow best at a

pH between 6 and 8 (Neutralophiles).
Obligate acidophiles – grow at extreme acid pH
Alkaliphiles – grow at extreme alkaline pH
 2. Temperature

• According to temperature bacteria are :

• Psychrophilic  Low Temperature.
• Mesophilic  Most of pathogens are mesophiles.
• Thermophilic  High Temperature

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 3. Gas Requirements
Oxygen
• As oxygen is utilized it is transformed into several toxic
products:
• singlet oxygen (O2 ), superoxide ion (O2 -), peroxide (H2 2
-
O and
), hydroxyl radicals (OH )

• Most cells have developed enzymes that neutralize

these chemicals:
• superoxide dismutase, catalase
• If a microbe is not capable of dealing with toxic
oxygen, it is forced to live in oxygen free habitats.

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 Categories of Oxygen
• Requirement
Aerobe – utilizes oxygen and can detoxify it
• Obligate aerobe - cannot grow without oxygen
• Facultative anaerobe – utilizes oxygen but can also
grow in its absence
• Microaerophilic – requires only a small amount of
oxygen.
• Anaerobe – does not utilize oxygen
• Obligate anaerobe - lacks the enzymes to detoxify
oxygen so cannot survive in an oxygen environment
• Aerotolerant anaerobes – do no utilize oxygen but can
survive and grow in its presence
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 Carbon Dioxide
Requirement
All microbes require some carbon dioxide in
their metabolism.
• Capnophile – grows best at higher CO2 tensions
than normally present in the atmosphere.

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 Osmotic Pressure
• Most microbes exist under hypotonic or isotonic
conditions
• Halophiles – require a high concentration of salt
• Osmotolerant – do not require high concentration of
solute but can tolerate it when it occurs
• Osmophiles: Capable of growing in high concentration
of sugars.
• Barophiles – can survive under extreme pressure and
will rupture if exposed to normal atmospheric
pressure

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 Transport: Movement of
Chemicals Across the Cell
Membrane
• Passive transport –does not require energy; substances
exist in a gradient and move from areas of higher
concentration towards areas of lower concentration
• diffusion
• osmosis – diffusion of water
• facilitated diffusion – requires a carrier
• Active transport – requires energy and carrier proteins;
gradient independent
• active transport
• group translocation – transported molecule chemically altered
• bulk transport – endocytosis, exocytosis, pinocytosis

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