Bacteria growth, nutrition, Reproduction and Metabolism

Bacteria grow and nutrition

Growth of bacterial cultures is defined as an increase in the number of bacteria in a population
rather than in the size of individual cells. The growth of a bacterial population occurs in a
geometric or exponential manner. This occurs with each division cycle (generation),
one cell gives rise to 2 cells, then 4 cells, then 8 cells, then 16, then 32, and so forth. When
bacteria are placed in a medium that provides all of the nutrients that are necessary for their
growth. Four phases of growth are typical of bacterial growth curve.

1. In the lag phase, the cells are metabolically active and increase only in cell size. They are
also synthesizing the enzymes and factors needed for cell division and population
growth under their new environmental conditions.
2. The exponential phase or log phase is a situation in which cell numbers increase in a
logarithmic fashion, and each cell generation occurs in the same time interval resulting
in a balanced increase in the constituents of each cell. The log phase continues until
nutrients are depleted or toxic products accumulate, at which time the cell growth rate
slows, and some cells may begin to die.
3. Stationary phase is the stage of a population in which bacteria remain constant, even
though some cells continue to divide and others begin to die.
4. The death phase occurs in which the death of cells in the population exceeds the
formation of new cells. The length of time before the onset of the death phase depends
on the species and the medium.

Factors affecting bacterial growth

Nutritional requirements
Bacterial differ with respect to the conditions that are necessary for their optimal growth. The
bacteria cells requires carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, numerous inorganic salts as source
of energy. Carbon is the element required in the greatest amount by bacteria
since hydrogen and oxygen can be obtained from water. The inorganic compounds and organic
compounds are two ways a cell can sources for carbon. The primary form of energy that is
captured from the transfer of electrons is ATP. The metabolic processes that break down
organic molecules to generate energy are called catabolic reactions. In contrast, anabolic
reactions is the metabolic processes that synthesize or build-up molecules. Some of the factors
that influence bacteria growth includes
Oxygen
One of the differences between bacteria is their requirement for, and response to,
atmospheric oxygen (O2). Whereas all eukaryotic organisms require oxygen to thrive, at the
same time many species of bacteria can grow under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions.
Bacteria that require oxygen to grow are called aerobic bacteria. In most cases, these bacteria
require oxygen to grow because their methods of energy production and respiration depend on
the transfer of electrons to oxygen. While anaerobe Bacteria grow only in the absence of
oxygen, such as Clostridium and Bacteroides. The response of bacteria to oxygen is not
determined simply by their metabolic needs because oxygen is a very reactive molecule and
forms several toxic by-products, such as superoxide (O2−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and
the hydroxyl radical (OH·). Aerobic organisms produce enzymes that detoxify these oxygen
products.

Temperature
Bacteria have adapted to a wide range of temperatures. psychrophiles bacteria grow at
temperatures of less than about 15 °C. The majority of psychrophilic bacteria are in the gram-
negative genera such as Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Achromobacter, and Alcaligenes.

Thermophilic bacteria grow at temperatures higher than 60 °C. These temperatures

are encountered in rotting compost piles and hot springs. In the runoff of a hot spring,
thermophiles such as the bacterium Thermus aquaticus operates at optimum temperature for
growth, eg 70°C and maximum temperature of 79°C are found near the source where the
temperature has fallen to about 70°C. Other on the hand genus Pyrodictium thrive in the
temperature range of 80 to 110°C.

pH
Most bacteria grow in the range of neutral pH values between 5 and 8, although some species
have adapted to life at more acidic or alkaline extremes. An example of an acidophilic
bacterium is A. ferrooxidans. However, acid tolerance of A. ferrooxidans applies only to sulfuric
acid, since these bacteria die when exposed to equivalent concentrations of other acids such
as hydrochloric acid. Many bacteria cannot tolerate acidic environments, especially under
anaerobic conditions, and, as a result, plant polymers degrade slowly in acidic of pH between
3.7 and 5.5. In contrast to acidophilic bacteria, alkalophilic bacteria are able to grow in alkaline
concentrations as great as pH 10 to 11. Most alkalophilic bacteria species are of gram-positive
genus Bacillus.
Bacterial metabolism
Heterotrophic metabolism
Heterotrophic bacteria require organic molecules to provide carbon and energy. Some
heterotrophic bacteria can metabolize sugars or complex carbohydrates to produce energy. The
enzymes convert the sugar into one of the central intermediates of metabolism, such as
glucose-6-phosphate. There are several central pathways for carbohydrate utilization, including
the Embden-Meyerhof pathway of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway. Escherichia
coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa are examples of heterotrophs organism. There are three major
mechanism for generating metabolic energy which include fermentation, respiration and
photosynthesis.

1. Fermentation is an anaerobic process that takes place in the absence of any external
electron acceptor. The organic compound, such as a sugar or amino acid, is broken
down into smaller organic molecules, which accept the electrons that had been released
during the breakdown of the energy source. Because organic molecules are only
partially oxidized during fermentation, the growth of fermentative bacteria results in the
production of large quantities of organic end products and a relatively small output of
energy per glucose molecule consumed.
2. The Respiration mechanism produce far more energy per sugar molecule than do
fermentative cells. The energy source allows complete oxidation of all of the energy
available than for fermenting bacteria. The most familiar respiratory process (aerobic
respiration) uses oxygen as the final electron acceptor. Respiring organisms generate
fewer toxic end products. The growth and survival of populations of aerobic bacteria are
directly proportional to the available supply of oxygen.

Respiration can also occur under anaerobic conditions by processes called anaerobic
respiration, in which the final electron acceptor is an inorganic molecule, such
as nitrate (NO3−), nitrite (NO2−), sulfate (SO42−), or carbon dioxide (CO2). The energy yields
available to the cell using these acceptors are lower than in respiration with oxygen but they
are still higher than the energy yields available from fermentation.

Autotrophic metabolism
Autotrophic bacteria synthesize all their cell constituents using carbon dioxide as
the carbon source. The most common pathways for synthesizing organic compounds from
carbon dioxide are the reductive pentose phosphate (Calvin) cycle, the reductive tricarboxylic
acid cycle, and the acetyl-CoA pathway. Autotrophic behavior depends on the ability of the cell
to carry out photosynthetic or aerobic respiratory metabolism, which are the only processes
able to deliver sufficient energy to maintain carbon fixation.
The aerobic non photosynthetic lithoautotrophs are those bacteria that not only use carbon
dioxide as their sole carbon source but also generate energy from inorganic compounds

Phototrophic metabolism
photosynthesis is the conversion of solar energy to cellular energy. The general process of
photosynthesis makes use of pigments called chlorophylls that absorb light energy from the Sun
and release an electron with a higher energy level. This electron is passed through an electron
transport chain, with the generation of energy by formation of a proton gradient
and concomitant ATP synthesis.

Photosynthetic organisms are divided into two groups according to the nature of the source of
these electrons. One group includes the higher plants, eukaryotic algae, and these organisms
contain the pigment chlorophyll. The photoreaction centers are present in these organisms,
one for the oxygen-generating reaction and the other for the cyclic process for energy
generation. Other photosynthetic bacteria contain only a single type of reaction center with a
different pigment, called bacteriochlorophyll, which absorbs light of long, low-energy
wavelengths. These organisms require an electron donor other than water and do not release
oxygen.

Growth on Media
The general cultivation of bacteria requires media rich in metabolic nutrients.
These media generally include agar, a carbon source, and an acid hydrolysate or
enzymatically degraded source of biologic material. Clinical samples from normal
nonsterile sites (eg throat swab and colon) contain two types of organism,
including potential pathogens and resident microbial flora. Media ca be
nonselective or selective and are used to distinguish among the various bacteria in
a clinical sample containing many different organisms.
1. Nonselective media
Blood and chocolate agar are examples of complex, non-selective media, which
support the growth of many different bacteria. Nonselective media is important
for the isolation of unknown bacterial from a specimen.
2. Selective media
Selective media are used to eliminate or reduce large numbers of irrelevant
bacteria in a specimen. The basis for selective media is the incorporation of an
inhibitory agent specifically select against the growth of irrelevant bacteria.
Examples are
a. Sodium azide: this selects the growth of gram -positive over gram-negative
b. Bile salt (sodium deoxycholate): it facility the growth gram-negative enteric
bacteria, and inhibit gram-negative mucosal and most gram-positive
bacteria.
c. Colistin and Nalidixic acid-inhibit the growth of many gram-negative
bacteria
Examples of selective media are MaCconkey agar (contain bile) that selects for the
enterobactriaceae.
3. Differential media
Many of the enterobacteriacaea can be differentiated on the basis of the ability
to metabolize lactose. Pathonegic bacteria such as salmonellae and shegellae do
not ferment lactose and on MaCcokey plate form clear cononies, whereas lactose
fermenting members of erterobacteriacaea eg E. coli form pink or red cononies.