Pasteur mentioned fermentation as “life without air” as he was the first one to understand that breakdown of organic compounds in absence of oxygen can be a method of obtaining metabolic energy for the microorganisms. There are two types of microorganisms regarding this i.e. that can live/survive without air: - Facultative anaerobes and Obligate anaerobes.
Facultative anaerobes have two types of energy yielding mechanisms. They can follow both aerobic and anaerobic pathways of obtaining metabolic energy. They can hence survive both in absence & presence of oxygen. So when sugar is fermented in absence of oxygen; alcohol & CO2 are produced whereas when oxygen is present no alcohol formation takes place and CO2 is the sole end product.
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