Monday, November 21, 2011

What is meant by "green sulphur bacteria" ?

Its a bacteria that uses sulfide instead of CO2, kind of odd actually. They photosynthesize like plants, but instead of creating O2, they produce sulfur as waste.

What is meant by "green sulphur bacteria" ?
The green sulfur bacteria (Chlorobiaceae) are a family of phototrophic bacteria. No other bacterial families are known to be closely related to them, and they are accordingly placed in their own phylum (Chlorobi). The phylum is most closely related to Bacteroidetes.
Reply:Green sulfur bacteria are a distinct group of anaerobic bacteria that utilize H2S (hydrogen sulfide) as an electron donor and produce Sulfate.





They can be fully autotrophic or photoheterotrophic, meaning they take up some fixed carbon in the light.





they are similar to purple sulfur bacteria except that the sulfur they produce resides outside the cell.
Reply:The green sulfur bacteria (Chlorobiaceae) are a family of phototrophic bacteria. No other bacterial families are known to be closely related to them, and they are accordingly placed in their own phylum (Chlorobi). The phylum is most closely related to Bacteroidetes.





Green sulfur bacteria are generally nonmotile (one species has a flagellum), and come in spheres, rods, and spirals. Their environment must be anaerobic (oxygen-free), and they need light to grow. They engage in photosynthesis, using bacteriochlorophylls c, d, and e in vesicles called chlorosomes attached to the membrane. They use sulfide ions as electron donor, and in the process the sulfide gets oxidized, producing globules of elemental sulfur outside the cell, which may then be further oxidized. (By contrast, the photosynthesis in plants uses water as electron donor and produces oxygen.)





A species of green sulfur bacteria has been found living near a black smoker off the coast of Mexico at a depth of 2,500 meters beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean. At this depth, the bacteria, designated GSB1, lives off the dim glow of the thermal vent since no sunlight can penetrate to that depth.


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