Topic
Metabolism
Framing Question
How are the interactions of microorganisms among themselves and with their environment determined by their metabolic abilities?
Learning Objectives
- Provide two examples of how microbial metabolism alters the surrounding physical environment.
- Define quorum sensing.
- Give an example of and explain how microbial metabolism is important to a relevant societal issue (e.g., health and disease, bioremediation, agriculture, etc.).
- Give an example of how quorum sensing is advantageous to bacterial cells in a given environment.
- Give an example where the waste product of one microorganism serves as an important substrate for another organism (e.g., ammonium-oxidizing bacteria and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, hydrogen producers and methanogens, sulfur oxidizers and sulfur reducers, etc.).
