Title: Bacterial Growth and Nutrition
1Bacterial Growth and Nutrition
- Bacterial nutrition and culture media
- Chemical and physical factors affecting growth
- The nature of bacterial growth
- Methods for measuring population size
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2Matter and energy
- In order to grow, bacteria need a source of raw
materials and energy - Source can be the same (e.g. glucose) or
different (e.g. carbon dioxide and sunlight). - Living things can extract energy from matter
- Living things cant turn energy into matter
- Living things can use energy to assemble raw
materials. - Bacteria cant grow on nothing!
3Where do raw materials come from?
- Bacteria acquire energy from oxidation of organic
or inorganic molecules, or from sunlight. - Growth requires raw materials some form of
carbon. - Autotrophs vs. heterotrophs
- Autoself heteroother trophfeeding.
- Autotrophs use carbon dioxide
- Heterotrophs use pre-formed organic compounds
(molecules made by other living things). - Humans and medically important bacteria are
heterotrophs.
4Essentials of Bacterial nutrition
- Macronutrients needed in larger amounts
- Needed in large quantities CHONPS
- Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous,
and sulfur. H and O are common. Sources of C,
N, P, and S must also be provided. - Macronutrients needed in smaller amounts
- Mineral salts such as Ca2, Fe3, Mg2, K
- Micronutrients trace elements
- needed in very tiny amounts e.g. Zn2, Mo2, Mn2
5Element dry wgt Source
Carbon 50 organic compounds or CO2
Oxygen 20 H2O, organic compounds, CO2, and O2
Nitrogen 14 NH3, NO3, organic compounds, N2
Hydrogen 8 H2O, organic compounds, H2
Phosphorus 3 inorganic phosphates (PO4)
Sulfur 1 SO4, H2S, So, organic sulfur compounds
Potassium 1 Potassium salts
Magnesium 0.5 Magnesium salts
Calcium 0.5 Calcium salts
Iron 0.2 Iron salts
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6Chemical form must be appropriate
- Not all bacteria can use the same things
- Some molecules cannot be transported in
- Enzymes for metabolizing it might not be present
- Chemical may be used, but more expensive
- These differences are used for identification
- Some chemicals are inert or physically unusable
- Relatively few bacteria (and only bacteria) use
N2 - Diamonds, graphite are carbon, but unusable
- P always in the form of phosphate
7Make it, or eat it?
- Some bacteria are remarkable, being able to make
all the organic compounds needed from a single C
source like glucose. - For others
- Vitamins, amino acids, blood, etc. added to a
culture medium are called growth factors. - Bacteria that require a medium with various
growth factors or other components and are hard
to grow are referred to as fastidious.
8Feast or famine normal is whats normal for
youOligotrophs vs. copiotrophs
- Oligo means few oligotrophs are adapted to life
in environments where nutrients are scarce - For example, rivers, other clean water systems.
- Copio means abundant, as in copious
- The more nutrients, the better.
- Medically important bacteria are copiotrophs.
- Grow rapidly and easily in the lab.
9Culture Medium
- Defined vs. Complex
- Defined has known amounts of known chemicals.
- Complex hydrolysates, extracts, etc.
- Exact chemical composition is not known.
- Selective and differential
- Selective media limits the growth of unwanted
microbes or allows growth of desired ones. - Differential media enables differentiation
between different microbes. - A medium can be both.
10Defined Medium for Cytophagas/Flexibacters
Component grams K2HPO4 0.10 KH2PO4 0.05 MgCl2
0.36 NaHCO3 0.05 CaCl2 1
ml BaCl2.2H2O Na acetate 0.01 FeCl.7H2O 0.2
ml RNA 0.10 alanine 0.15 arginine 0.20
aspartic acid 0.30 glutamic acid 0.55
glycine 0.02 histidine 0.20 isoleucine 0.30 le
ucine 0.20 lysine 0.40 phenylalanine 0.30 pro
line 0.50 serine 0.30 threonine 0.50 valine
0.30
11Physical requirements for growth
- Prefixes and suffixes
- Bacteria are highly diverse in the types of
conditions they can grow in. - Optimal or required conditions implied by
-phile meaning love - Some bacteria prefer other conditions, but can
tolerate extremes - Suffix -tolerant
- Note the difference!
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12Oxygen friend or foe?
- Early atmosphere of Earth had none
- First created by cyanobacteria using
photosynthesis - Oxygen gas rusted iron in Earths crust, then
excess collected in atmosphere - Strong oxidizing agent
- Reacts with certain organic molecules, produces
free radicals and strong oxidizers - Singlet oxygen, H2O2(peroxide), O3- (superoxide),
and hydroxyl (OH-) radical.
13Protections of bacteria against oxygen
- Bacteria possess protective enzymes, catalase and
superoxide dismutase. - Catalase breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water
and oxygen gas. - Superoxide dismutase breaks superoxide down into
peroxide and oxygen gas. - Anaerobes missing one or both slow or no growth
in the presence of oxygen.
Fe3 -SOD O2- ? Fe2 -SOD O2 Fe2 -SOD
O2- 2H ? Fe 3 -SOD H2O2
14Relation to Oxygen
- Aerobes use oxygen in metabolism obligate.
- Microaerophiles require oxygen (also obligate),
but in small amounts. - Anaerobes grow without oxygen SEE NEXT
A aerobeB microaerophile
- Capnophiles require larger amounts of carbon
dioxide than are found normally in air.
15Anaerobes grow without O2
- Classifications vary, but our definitions
- Obligate (strict) anaerobes killed or inhibited
by oxygen. - Aerotolerant anaerobes do not use oxygen, but
not killed by it. - Facultative anaerobes can grow with or without
oxygen
C could be facultative or aerotolerant.D
strict anaerobe
16Effect of temperature
- Low temperature
- Enzymatic reactions too slow enzymes too stiff
- Lipid membranes no longer fluid
- High temperature
- Enzymes denature, lose shape and stop functioning
- Lipid membranes get too fluid, leak
- DNA denatures
- As temperature increases, reactions and growth
rate speed up at max, critical enzymes denature.
17Bacteria and temperature
- Bacteria have temperature ranges (grow between 2
temperature extremes), and an optimal growth
temperature. Both are used to classify bacteria. - As temperature increases, so do metabolic rates.
- At high end of range, critical enzymes begin to
denature, work slower. Growth rate drops off
rapidly with small increase in temperature.
18Classification of bacteria based on temperature
19Terms related to temperature
- Special cases
- Psychrotrophs bacteria that grow at normal
(mesophilic) temperatures (e.g. room temperature
but can also grow in the refrigerator
responsible for food spoilage. - Thermoduric more to do with survival than
growth bacteria that can withstand brief heat
treatments.
20pH Effects
- pH -logH
- Lowest 0 (very acid) highest 14 (very basic)
Neutral is pH 7. - Acidophiles/acidotolerant grow at low pH
- Alkalophiles/alkalotolerant grow at high pH
- Most bacteria prefer a neutral pH
- What is pH of human blood?
- Some bacteria create their preferred conditions
- Lactobacillus creates low pH environment in vagina
21Low water activityhalophiles, osmophiles, and
xerotolerant
- Water is critical for life remove some, and
things cant grow. (food preservation jerky,
etc.) - Halophiles/halotolerant relationship to high
salt. - Marine bacteria archaea and really high salt.
- Osmophiles can stand hypertonic environments
whether salt, sugar, or other dissolved solutes - Fungi very good at this grandmas wax over
jelly. - Xerotolerant dry. Subject to desiccation. Fungi
best - Bread, dry rot of wood
- Survival of bacterial endospores.
22Miscellaneous conditions
- Radiation (solar, UV, gamma)
- Can all damage cells bacteria have pigments to
absorb energy and protect themselves. - Endospores are radiation resistant.
- Deinococcus radiodurans extremely radiation
resistant - Extremely efficient DNA repair, protection
against dessication damage to DNA. - Barophiles/barotolerant microbes from deep sea
- Baro- means pressure. Actually require high
pressure as found in their environment.