Prokaryote Metabolism and Ecology

Hi. In this video we'll be taking a look at pro carry attic metabolism as well as how precarious factor into the ecosystem. Now you might recall that precarious have a diverse array of metabolic options and just to review all the different terms that can apply to metabolism, let's let's take a look at these terms here now. To be clear, these first two terms hetero Trovan autotrophs, right? These two terms essentially, uh, specify where the carbon source comes from. For the organism, right autotrophs will make their own carbon compounds right that they're gonna oxidize like we learned about Calvin Cycle, for example. Um, and they're going thio use in organic carbon, right, like co two ch four. These were both gasses. They're gonna take carbon from those gasses and they're going to synthesize carbon compounds to use Aziz fuel for various metabolic pathways. Hetero tropes, on the other hand, use carbon compounds that air synthesized by other organisms to fuel their metabolic processes. So essentially header tropes all depend on autotrophs to build the carbon compounds that they're gonna end up using. So again, autotrophs and hetero trough simply refer to where the carbon source is coming from for these organisms. Now, these next three terms voter TRO, Chemo Organa Trophy and Chema with a trophy. These terms refer to the energy source that the organism is going to use in order. Thio perform its metabolic functions. So essentially, what we have here is carbon source and energy source, and we're actually gonna have to combine these terms to give the full name to the metabolic, the metabolic pathways of particular organism. But before I get ahead of myself there, let's talk about what each of these terms means. So photo tropes use light energy and they're going to produce a teepee via photo phosphor relation, which is a process we've already talked about back when we were discussing photosynthesis. Now, chemo Organa troves are going thio oxidize organic molecules for energy and some are going to produce ATP via oxidative phosphor relation, which is again, another process that we talked about, um, during our discussion of cellular respiration. Lastly, Chema with a troves organized, oxidized, not organized, oxidized in organic molecules for energy. And again a ATP is gonna be produced by oxygen phosphor elation there. So essentially the difference is between chemo organic troves and Hema with a troves. Whether or not they're using organic or inorganic molecules and photo tropes, they are using light, not molecules, as their energy source. So you can have photo autotrophs, but you can also have photo hetero troughs. Likewise, you can have chemo, organic chemo, organo autotrophs or chemo, chemo organo, hetero troughs. So you essentially, you know, we'll pick header tro for autotrophs and then, uh, one of the three below mushing together. And there you have your type of metabolism. So there are many different combinations, right? And the basic breakdown is where you getting your carbon from Where you getting your energy from right? Those air, the distinguishing factors. And, uh, you can see that in this little diagram, many, many different uhh organisms are hetero troughs, many different organisms or autotrophs, and they actually feed into each other. You know, autotrophs provide the carbon compounds that header tropes they're gonna need to use header troves are going thio provide the, uh, inorganic materials that autotrophs will need to use like carbon dioxide. Hopefully, this is all familiar territory as these are ideas that we have discussed previously. For example, when we talked about photosynthesis. Now the other, uh, distinctions that you need to be aware of in terms of metabolic pathways and pro carry its is or involves the use of oxygen. So, um, some pro carry it's And of course, you know, some you carry its, but we're really just worried about pro carry. It's here. But some pro carry its must use oxygen as part of cellular respiration. Right? They are obligated to use oxygen. So we call them obligate Arabs, right. They have to use oxygen. So this little test tube right here is supposed to represent our obligate Arabs. And the reason for that is noticed that all of ourselves are gathered right at the surface here, right, right near the air liquid interface. So right near where the oxygen is. So they're going to be able to use that oxygen in their metabolic pathways. On the other hand, some organisms are obligate and Arabs oxygen is actually toxic to these species. They don't use oxygen for cellular respiration. And here is our example of those obligated Anna robes, and you can see that they are growing at the bottom of our cats to write as far away from the oxygen as they can get right. They want to be as far from that Oxygen is possible because it is toxic to them. Now we also will see organisms which will call faculty native and Arabs. And basically these organisms can perform cellular respiration with or without oxygen. That's what we have going on here. These cells in these in this test tube all the way on the right here, our faculty native Anna robes. And you can see that they're pretty evenly distributed throughout the entirety of the test to right. And that's because they could grow near the oxygen. They can grow far away from the oxygen. It doesn't matter. They have options. When it comes to cellular respiration, they're not obligated to do anything last. Lean some some organisms will actually not perform cellular respiration. All right, they're not gonna do electron transport. They're not going to do oxidative phosphor relation to generate at P. Instead, they're gonna rely on like Hollis ist, right, like clinic pathways simply rely on the breakdown of carbon molecules. And you might recall that these, uh, organisms need to perform fermentation, which is that process that regenerates the electron carriers that get used up in like Hollis ISS, and this is going to allow for continued a teepee production. Now, you might recall that there are two types of fermentation we talked about. We talked about alcohol fermentation, which is obviously the most important type of fermentation. Of course, I mean, just duh. But then we also talked about lactic acid fermentation, which is actually the type of fermentation that we do in our bodies. So sorry hate to break it to you, but you can't get drunk from making your cells do a lot of fermentation. Now, looking at at these different types of metabolic options, hopefully you can see that pro carry it's really cover a very diverse range of metabolic pathways. They do a lot of different things, and that kind of gets back to the point that I've been trying to make that these air super important organisms. And actually we're gonna turn the page right now and just talk about you know, just how important these organisms are to the ecosystem. In fact, the biosphere life on Earth truly depends on pro carry. It's to continue functioning properly, both at the level of individual organisms But, you know, more importantly, uh, for the biosphere is ah, whole toe function properly. We need thes pro carry. It's so let's flip the page and find out how that works.

There are many cycles of energy flow and nutrient flow er, flow of matter through the biosphere, and bacteria and archaea play very important roles in, uh, all of these processes, the most notable one, though the one that really could not happen without them is nitrogen is three nitrogen cycle and specifically precarious air responsible for what's called nitrogen fixation where they take atmospheric nitrogen, right? And to that gas that most of the air we breathe is made up of rightly, over 70% is into, and they convert it to a usable form of nitrogen Aziz in a form that other organisms can actually utilize and must utilize. Um, and this is, uh, ammonium or nitric nitrogen dioxide. So, uh, essentially the entire nitrogen cycle depends on precarious. To perform our depends on precarious performing nitrogen fixation. So that makes bacteria and archaea the drivers of the nitrogen cycle on this planet. Now, uh, you know, here we have little image of the nitrogen cycle. You don't need to worry about all the specifics of the nitrogen cycle. That's something we'll cover in ecology. Um, the main idea Main thing that I want, You know, you guys Thio, Appreciate and understand is this bottleneck that essentially occurs Oops, essentially occurs here, right? These processes all rely on bacteria, right? We need that bacteria Thio generate usable nitrogen that will feedback into plants and animals and other organisms and is essential for much of life as we know it. So super important process that is, you know, completely on eloquently performed by these pro carry It's now that's not the only way that pro carry its influence the biosphere on, you know, like Aneka Logical cycle level. I mean, for example, there's also, uh, you know what's termed the carbon cycle, how carbon flows through the biosphere. And remember that bacteria, uh, pro carry it's in general are very important. De composers, right? They break down organic matter, so they helped cycle carbon through the biosphere is well, additionally photosynthetic bacteria like cyanobacteria produce oxygen and they actually are responsible for having generated a lot of the atmospheric oxygen on earth. I mean, we're talking ancient ancient history billions of years ago, uh, these organisms were responsible for creating all of this oxygen in the atmosphere. Huge impact on the biosphere. Unbelievable impact on the biosphere. Uh, and as I've mentioned previously, bacteria and archaea also play an important role in the internal environments of humans and ruminants like cows, right? Actually, a lot of other organisms, too. Um, I'm specifically mentioning ruminants because of, you know, talking about the pathogens previously that helped them digest their food. And also it's become a very hot topic and medicine as of late, exploring the the relationship between humans and their, uh, the bacteria that help us function not only the bacteria that live inside us, but also the bacteria, um, that live on us. But specifically like the hottest topic is how the bacteria in our gut help us live. And I mean, the implications are way beyond what you'd expect. There are even studies that have shown some connection between the animal brain and these bacteria. Like literally, these bacteria can influence the brains of animals, and they're thinking really, really cool stuff. And also you wouldn't be able to live without these bacteria. That should also be said. The bacteria that live inside you allow you to stay alive. Um, and last fact about how important bacteria are because I could just go on and on. I love pro carry. It's I think they're amazing. They're arm or cells living inside of you Mawr cells living inside of you, right? More of these bacteria inside of you. Then there are cells that make up your entire body. Drop the mic. I'm done. That's all I've got for this video. Go, bacteria.