Anaerobic bacteria exhibit a large variety of enzymes catalyzing carboxylation or reductive carboxylation reactions. In some of these organisms CO2 functions as the principal electron acceptor in energy metabolism: CO2 is reduced with hydrogen to CH4 (methanogenic bacteria) or to acetate (acetogenic bacteria). These exergonic reactions serve as the sole energy yielding processes for life of these microorganisms and are coupled to a synthesis of ATP from ADP and P. In addition, many anaerobic bacteria can synthesize all cellular compounds from CO2 (autotrophic anaerobic bacteria). Even when a preformed organic compound is used as the main source of cell carbon (heterotrophic bacteria), CO2 is also required for biosynthetic reactions. A brief overview is given,why these organisms use CO2 in metabolism, how they reduce CO2 or incorporate it into cellular compounds, and what are the strategies used compared to knownchemical processes.
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Department of Chemistry, University of Bari, Italy
M. Aresta
Department of Biology, University of Milan, Italy
G. Forti
© 1987 D. Reidel Publishing Company
Fuchs, G. (1987). Carbon Dioxide Reduction by Anaerobic Bacteria. In: Aresta, M., Forti, G. (eds) Carbon Dioxide as a Source of Carbon. NATO ASI Series, vol 206. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3923-3_14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3923-3_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8240-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3923-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
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