Transcript No Slide Title

What is the most basic
and numerous form of
life on our planet?
Pro-kary-otes
“before the nut or kernal”
or nuclei”
Archaebacteria vs. Eubacteria
Bacteria or prokaryotes
Cells without nuclei
“old”-est
“good”, common
Extremopliles –
“Friend of
extreme places”
Most numerous
organism on earth,
more complex
Basic
Prokaryote
Outside
DNA
Capsule
Cell Wall
Plasma
Membrane
Pili
Inside
Cytoplasm
Flagellum
Conjugating
Bacterium
Pili
Endospores
Highly resistant to hostile physical
and chemical conditions…
Making a Living on the Edge of Life…
micron or um = 1 x 10-6 m
Making a Living on the Edge …
Can a living system of organisms exist in
the absence of light?
Where are these living systems found?
What are these kinds of living
ecosystems called?
What provides the energy for the
“Producers” in these living systems?
Cave & Caverns...
Reading:
Movile Cave,
Romania
Making a Living on the Edge …
Organisms that are able to make their
own food in environments which
exhibit extraordinary conditions such
as very high temperatures, very high
salt conditions or very low or very high
pH values, are called…
Autotrophic
Rock surfaces…As a symbiont
Cyanobacteria
Fungus
Lichen
Rock Surface
Soil surfaces…Cryptobiotic Community
crypto ~ biotic
hidden ~ life
Salt Flats …with and in Salt Crystals
Halo ~ philic
Salt ~ loving
Owens Dry Lake
...bacteria
Hot Springs…Hot, Acidic, Sulfur, Home
Home for Thermophilic
Anaerobic Sulfur Bacteria
Mudpots...
Home for Sulfur Loving or
Thermophile Cyanobacteria
Wetlands … “black Mud” Communities
Methane Producing Bacteria
4H2 + CO2 --> CH4 + 2H2O + ATP
Obligate Anaerobes
“Swamp Gas”
Acidic Waters w/o O2…Home Sweet Home
Iron Bacteria
Fe+2 (ferrous) --> Fe+3 (ferric) + e-
Acidic Waters w/o O2…Home Sweet Home
Iron Bacteria
Acidic Waters w/o O2…Home Sweet Home
Most of the worlds iron ore originated
from the waste of Iron Bacteria. These
bacteria used iron dissolved in sea water
like we use oxygen. These iron-reducing
bacteria coated the ocean floor with an
iron-rich slime that eventually hardened
into iron ore. Iron-reducing bacteria
still live today in places wet places that
lack oxygen, like the “black mud” below
the water in our marsh.
Ammonia …to the Staff of Life…Glucose
Nitrifying Bacteria
Nitrosomonas sp.
Nitrite
6 CO2 + 6 NH3 + 6 O2 --> C6 H12 O6 + 6 HNO3
Global Nitrogen Cycle
6 CO2 + 6 HNO3 + 6 O2 --> C6 H12 O6 + 6 HNO2
Nitrobacter sp.
Nitrate
Ammonia …to the Staff of Life…Glucose
Nitrifying Bacteria
Nitrosomonas sp.
N
I
T
R
O
G
E
N
Ammonia …to the Staff of Life…Glucose
Nitrifying Bacteria
Global Nitrogen Cycle
Instead of light energy, the nitrifying
bacteria use chemical ammonia (NH3)
as an energy source for the synthesis
of ATP. Nitrifying bacteria are
abundant in soils and shallow muds.
Deep Sea Cold Water Springs & Seeps
An Underwater Cold
Water Brine Pond
Brine Pool
Muscles
An organism that obtains its energy
from the oxidation of chemicals.
Tube Worms
Bacteria Mats
Deep Sea Cold Water Springs & Seeps
Where cold seeps have been found.
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
+
Hydrogen Sulfide H2S
Iron monosulfide FeS
Iron Pyrite
Hydrogen Gas
FeS2
H2
3 to 380 degrees C, No light, 4000m deep
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
4 um long purple bacteria on
the surface of a pyrite crystal.
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
These bacteria are
found...
• freely floating
• growing in mats
• growing in the guts of
tube worms as symbionts
• on the gills of filter
feeders as symbionts
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
3m long
Tube worms
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
12 mm long
Vent Crabs
…Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents
20 cm mussel-like bivalves.
Shellfish are filter feeders.
When the sun does not shine…
Chemosynthesis
Chemo ~ syn ~ thesis
Chemical ~ together ~ food
The process of using chemical
energy to create food.
Organism that do Chemosynthesis are...
Chemoautotrophic
Chemo ~ auto ~ trophic
Chemical ~ self ~ to nourish
An organism that obtains its energy
from the oxidation of chemicals.
Oxidation ~ Loss of Electrons 
Breaking of bonds  Energy
release Special Enzymes do this
When the sun does not shine…
Chemosynthetic Ecosystem
An isolated system of interdependent
organisms that depend upon the
abilities of chemoautotrophs to
produce the food and organic
compounds needed by the entire living
system through carbon fixation by
chemosynthetic biochemical pathways
Chemoautotrophs make their food by…
Oxidation
...removing one or more electrons
from an atom, ion, or molecule...
24 electrons
12H2S+ 6CO2 ->C6H12O6 + 6H20 + 12S
…creating a gradient that does work!
S
U
L
F
U
R
Chemoautotrophs…Oxidation Rnx
2H+ + S + 2 e-
Inside the
ORGA NISM
H2S
Chemoautotrophs… Making a Gradient
The e- energy
and charge are
used to move
the H+ beyond a
membrane
barrier in order
to create a
concentration
gradient.
Chemoautotrophs…Electron Transport
H2S
Chemoautotrophs… Gradient @ Work
Chemoautotrophs…ATP “Energy Currency”
2H+
chemiosmotic theory
Chemoautotrophs…ATP “Energy Currency”
Work done as
the H+ move
with the
concentration
gradient
through an
enzyme creates
ATP from ADP
+ P
Chemoautotrophs…ATP “Energy Currency”
ATP created through this
process are used by
chemoautotrophs to make
molecules used for food
(glucose) and to gather and
make molecules needed to
support cellular process.
Where the sun does not shine...
Recipe for Chemosynthesis:
AEROBIC
•Carbon Dioxide [CO2]
•(carbon source)
•Oxidizable compounds
•(electron donors)
•
+
/
Molecular
Oxygen
[O
]
ANAEROBIC
2
•Appropriate Organism
•Appropriate Environment
Where the sun does not shine...
Compounds that can be easily oxidized
(lose electrons) include:
H2, hydrogen gas - CH4, methane gas
CO, carbon monoxide gas -S, sulfur
H2S, hydrogen sulfide-NH3, ammonia
NO2, nitrate - N2O, nitrous oxide
Fe+2, Iron - Mn +2, manganese
Where the sun does not shine...
Organisms that create their own
food by oxidizing inorganic chemicals
as an energy source and carbon
dioxide as their carbon source are
called...
Chemo ~ litho ~ auto ~ trophs
Chemical ~ stone ~ self ~ feeder
What’s the big deal ?
What are some reasons for why we
should study Chemolithoautotrophs?
cycles
food chains
nutrients
mining
antibiotics
search for extra-terrestrial life
Where the sun does not shine...
Oxidizable Compound (electron donor)
Hydrogen - H2
Alcaligenes eutrophus
Carbon - CO
Pseudomonas
Monoxide
carboxydovorans
Ammonium- NH4+ Nitrosomonas europaea
Nitrite
- NO2- Nitrobacter winogradskyi
Making them feel at home…LAB
Making and Observing a
Winogradsky columns