Lecture PowerPoint to accompany

Foundations in
Microbiology
Eighth Edition

Talaro
Chapter 7
Elements of Microbial
Nutrition, Ecology, and
Growth
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 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
organism
Two categories of essential nutrients:
– macronutrients – required in large quantities; play principal
roles in cell structure and metabolism
• proteins, carbohydrates
– micronutrients or trace elements – required in small
amounts; involved in enzyme function and maintenance of
protein structure
• manganese, zinc, nickel
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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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 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 (NO3 ,
NO2 , or NH3).
• 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
• O2 makes up 20% of atmosphere
• 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 (PO4-3)
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
• Potassium – essential to protein synthesis and
membrane function
• Sodium – important to some types of cell transport
• Calcium – cell wall and endospore stabilizer
• Magnesium – component of chlorophyll;
membrane and ribosome stabilizer
• Iron – component of proteins of cell respiration
• Zinc, copper, nickel, manganese, etc.
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 Growth Factors: 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, nucleotides

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 Nutritional Types
• Main determinants of nutritional type are:
– carbon source – heterotroph, autotroph
– energy source –
• chemotroph – gain energy from chemical
compounds
• phototrophs – gain energy through
photosynthesis

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Venenivibrio,
an extremophilic bacterium
that lives in acidic hot springs
3H2 + 2O2 → H2O2 + 2H2O

Methanocaldococcus jannaschii,
an archaeon and methanogen
that inhabits hot vents in the
seafloor
4H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2H2O
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Transport: Movement of Chemicals
Across the Cell Membrane

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 Environmental Factors That
Influence Microbes
• Environmental factors fundamentally affect the
function of metabolic enzymes.
• Factors include:
– temperature
– oxygen requirements
– pH
– electromagnetic radiation
– barometric pressure

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 3 Cardinal Temperatures
• Minimum temperature – lowest temperature
that permits a microbe’s growth and
metabolism
• Maximum temperature – highest temperature
that permits a microbe’s growth and
metabolism
• Optimum temperature – promotes the fastest
rate of growth and metabolism

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 3 Temperature Adaptation Groups

1. Psychrophiles – optimum temperature below

15oC; capable of growth at 0oC
2. Mesophiles – optimum temperature 20o-
40oC; most human pathogens
3. Thermophiles – optimum temperature
greater than 45oC

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 Gas Requirements
Oxygen
• As oxygen is utilized it is transformed into
several toxic products:
– singlet oxygen (1O2), superoxide ion (O2-), peroxide
(H2O2), and hydroxyl radicals (OH-)
• Most cells have developed enzymes that
neutralize these chemicals:
– superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase
• 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

• Microaerophilic – requires only a small

amount of oxygen (typically 2–10% O2)

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 Categories of Oxygen Requirement
• Anaerobe – does not utilize oxygen
➢Obligate anaerobe - lacks the enzymes to
detoxify oxygen so cannot survive in an
oxygen environment
➢Facultative anaerobe – utilizes oxygen but
can also grow in its absence
➢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 (5% – 10% CO2 and ~15% O2)

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 Effects of pH
• Majority of microorganisms grow at a pH
between 6 and 8 (Neutrophiles)
• Obligate acidophiles – grow at extreme acidic
pH
• Alkalinophiles – grow at extreme alkaline pH

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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

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 Other Environmental Factors

• Barophiles – can survive under extreme

pressure and will rupture if exposed to
normal atmospheric pressure

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 Ecological Associations Among
Microorganisms
• Symbiotic – organisms live in close nutritional
relationships; required by one or both members
– mutualism – obligatory, dependent; both members
benefit (cộng sinh)
– commensalism – commensal member benefits,
other member not harmed (hội sinh)
– parasitism – parasite is dependent and benefits;
host is harmed (ký sinh)

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 Ecological Associations Among
Microorganisms
• Non-symbiotic – organisms are free-living;
relationships not required for survival
– synergism – members cooperate and share
nutrients (hợp tác)
– antagonism – some member are inhibited or
destroyed by others (đối địch)

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 Interrelationships Between
Microbes and Humans
• Human body is a rich habitat for symbiotic
bacteria, fungi, and a few protozoa -
normal microbial flora
• Commensal, parasitic, and synergistic

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 Microbial Biofilms
• Biofilms result when organisms attach to
a substrate by some form of extracellular
matrix that binds them together in complex
organized layers
• Dominate the structure of most natural
environments on earth
• Communicate and cooperate in the
formation and function of biofilms –
quorum sensing

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 The Study of Microbial Growth
• Microbial growth occurs at two levels:
growth at a cellular level with increase in
size, and increase in population
• Division of bacterial cells occurs mainly
through binary fission (transverse)
– parent cell enlarges, duplicates its
chromosome, and forms a central transverse
septum dividing the cell into two daughter
cells

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 Rate of Population Growth
• Time required for a complete fission cycle is
called the generation, or doubling time
• Each new fission cycle increases the population
by a factor of 2 – exponential or logarithmic
growth.
• Generation times vary from minutes to days.

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 Rate of Population Growth
• Equation for calculating population size over time:

n t/g
Nƒ = (Ni).2 = (Ni).2
Nƒ : total number of cells in the population.
Ni : starting number of cells.
n : generation number.
t : total growth duration (min/hour/day)
g : generation time/doubling time (min/hour/day)
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 The Population Growth Curve
• In laboratory studies, populations typically display a
predictable pattern over time – growth curve.
• Stages in the normal growth curve:
1. Lag phase – “flat” period of adjustment, enlargement;
little growth
2. Exponential growth phase – a period of maximum
growth will continue as long as cells have adequate
nutrients and a favorable environment
3. Stationary phase – rate of cell growth equals rate of cell
death caused by depleted nutrients and O2, excretion of
organic acids and pollutants
4. Death phase – as limiting factors intensify, cells die
exponentially in their own wastes
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 7 – 13 – 25 – 358
Cell number format: 4029 – 50680 – 692013
202350569321
• x,yz .10n 124542326
• x.yz x10n 89843623
7243159 64
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 Methods of Analyzing Population
Growth
• Turbidimetry – most simple
• Degree of cloudiness, turbidity, reflects the
relative population size
• Enumeration of bacteria:
– viable colony count
– direct cell count – count all cells present;
automated or manual

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II. PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐẾM KHUẨN LẠC
II. PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐẾM KHUẨN LẠC

Máy đếm khuẩn lạc

Bút đếm khuẩn lạc

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 Rate of Population Growth
• Equation for calculating population size over time:

n t/g
Nƒ = (Ni).2 = (Ni).2
Nƒ : total number of cells in the population.
Ni : starting number of cells.
n : generation number.
t : total growth duration (min/hour/day)
g : generation time/doubling time (min/hour/day)
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 Rate of Population Growth
n t/g
Nƒ = (Ni).2 = (Ni).2
n = t/g = Log2.Log(Nƒ/Ni)
= 3,3.(LogNƒ - LogNi)
0.301/g = (LogNƒ - LogNi)/t = a
a : the slope of y = ax + b of the linear trendline
equation of data in exp growth phase in Log
y : LogNƒ
b : LogNi
x : t = (tf – ti)
• Growth Rate (1/min, 1/hour, 1/day)
k.t
Nƒ = (Ni).e
k.t.Loge = Log(Nƒ/Ni)
k.t.Loge = LogNƒ - LogNi
k = (LogNƒ – LogNi)/t.Loge = (LogNƒ – LogNi)/t.0,434
k = a.2,303 = 0,693/g = 0,693.n/t
k : instantaneous growth rate constant of
y = yo.ek.x of the exp trendline equation of
original data in exp growth phase
e : the base of the natural logarithm = 2.71828
x : t = (t – to)