Anaerobic Metabolic Pathways
Anaerobic Metabolic Pathways - Related Videos
07:26
Metabolic Pathway Confirmation and Discovery Through 13C-labeling of Proteinogenic Amino Acids
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Cited by 53 •
2012
13C-isotope labeling is a useful technique for determining the cell central metabolism for various types of microorganisms. After cells have been cultured with a specific labeled substrate, GC-MS measurement can reveal functional metabolic pathways based on unique labeling patterns in proteinogenic amino acids.
02:34
Preparing an Anaerobic Sludge Culture under Oxygen-Free Conditions
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2025
Source: Wagner, A. O.,et al., Medium Preparation for the Cultivation of Microorganisms under Strictly Anaerobic/Anoxic Conditions. J. Vis. Exp. (2019)This video demonstrates the preparation and inoculation of anaerobic cultures using oxygen-free sludge under strictly controlled, deoxygenated conditions.
05:01
A Pathway Association Study Tool for GWAS Analyses of Metabolic Pathway Information
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Cited by 1 •
2020
By running the Pathway Association Study Tool (PAST), either through the Shiny application or through the R console, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the biological meaning of their genome-wide association study (GWAS) results by investigating the metabolic pathways involved.
00:52
What is Metabolism?
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2019
Overview Metabolism represents all of the chemical activity in a cell, including reactions that build molecules (anabolism) and those that break molecules down (catabolism). Anabolic reactions require energy, whereas catabolic reactions provide it. Thus, metabolism describes how cells transform energy through a variety of chemical reactions, which are often made more efficient with the help of enzymes. Metabolism Is the Sum of All of the Chemical Reactions That Take Place in an Organism
09:35
Enrichment Cultures: Culturing Aerobic and Anaerobic Microbes on Selective and Differential Medias
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2023
Source: Christopher P. Corbo1, Jonathan F. Blaize1, Elizabeth Suter1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Wagner College, 1 Campus Road, Staten Island NY, 10301 Prokaryotic cells are able to inhabit nearly every environment on this planet. As a kingdom, they possess a great metabolic diversity, allowing them to use a wide variety of molecules for energy generation (1). Therefore, when cultivating these organisms in the lab, all necessary and specific molecules required to make energy must be...
FAQs
Glycolysis provides the initial route for converting glucose into pyruvate while producing ATP. Because this step does not depend on oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor, it can supply immediate energy under oxygen-limited conditions. The resulting pyruvate then serves as a central branching point for downstream processes that restore electron balance and allow metabolism to continue.
NAD+ regeneration allows glycolysis to continue after its electron-carrying molecules become reduced. During fermentation, electrons are transferred to organic molecules, helping restore the oxidized NAD+ needed for further glucose breakdown. Without this recycling step, glycolysis would lose access to a necessary cofactor, limiting continued ATP production from the pathway.
Fermentation transfers electrons to organic molecules formed within the metabolic system, whereas anaerobic respiration uses alternative electron acceptors such as nitrate or sulfate. This distinction separates two ways of maintaining electron flow when oxygen is unavailable. It also links anaerobic metabolism to different environmental chemical cycles, particularly in microbial communities.
Oxygen-limited settings favor these pathways because they allow energy production where oxygen is not available for the relevant terminal electron-acceptor role. Examples include sediments, soils, and animal tissues. Microbes living in these environments can therefore maintain metabolism, while their activity contributes to transformations involved in carbon and nutrient cycling.
Food fermentation uses the biochemical capacity of anaerobic pathways to process organic substrates and generate useful products. The pathway’s electron-transfer reactions support continued metabolism while producing compounds associated with fermentation. In biotechnology, this makes anaerobic metabolism relevant for developing and maintaining food-production processes that rely on microbial activity rather than oxygen-dependent energy generation.
Anaerobic metabolic pathways inform wastewater-treatment strategies by providing a biological basis for processing materials in oxygen-limited conditions. Microbial metabolism can be directed toward transformations of organic matter and nutrients, connecting treatment performance with carbon and nutrient cycling. Their usefulness comes from applying naturally occurring anaerobic processes in a managed biotechnology setting.
Biotechnology can use anaerobic metabolism to produce biofuels and other valuable compounds from microbial processing. The pathways provide energy-generating and electron-balancing reactions that support conversion of substrates into products of interest. Their importance extends beyond survival in oxygen-limited habitats, because the same biological principles can guide production systems designed around microbial metabolism.