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What are the characteristics of a facultative anaerobe?
Posted February 8, 2024
Answer
- The most distinctive characteristic of a facultative anaerobe is its unique ability to survive in the presence and absence of molecular oxygen.
- A facultative anaerobe has a unique enzyme system that allows it to function in both aerobic as well as anaerobic environments. It has catalase, an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide into molecular oxygen and water. It also has superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that converts superoxide anions into molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.
- Depending on the availability of molecular oxygen, a facultative anaerobe can switch its metabolism between aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration, and fermentation. When oxygen is available, this type of organism switches over to aerobic respiration by default because of the higher energy yield.
- A facultative anaerobe has a low enough ATP requirement that it can survive on the small amount of ATP produced by glycolysis alone.
- These organisms have developed a wide array of aerotolerance strategies such as ROS (reactive oxygen species) detoxification pathways, extracellular electron transfer mechanism, and biofilm formation among others.
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