The company big money inc. is in trouble again, this time they have had a major spill of a hydrocarbon fuel. they looked through the literature and found the following charts describing the types of metabolism used by microbes to degrade hydrocarbons at 25 contaminated sites. not having taken microbiology or biochemistry, they want to know what these charts mean. describe to them how a bacterium would perform iron reduction. assume that any bacterium capable of degrading hydrocarbons is capable of first breaking the hydrocarbons down into acetyl co-a. answer the following questions about iron reducing bacteria. note: the type of methanogenesis occurring here is not fermentation. a) why do the bacteria break the hydrocarbon down into acetyl co-a? b) list the pathways (glycolysis, tca, electron transport, fermentation, photosynthesis, chemolithotrophy) a bacterium would use during iron reduction that results in the degradation of a hydrocarbon. note: other types of metabolism may be occurring, only indicate those pathways occurring while performing iron reduction.
c) indicate the final electron acceptor used in iron reduction.
d) where do the electrons given to the electron acceptor come from? in other words, what molecule is the first electron donor at the beginning of metabolism? (hint: what are they eating? )
e) indicate whether the type of metabolism you have just described is fermentation, photosynthesis, anaerobic respiration, aerobic chemolithotrophy or anaerobic chemolithotrophy. f) how would your answer differ if you were describing aerobic respiration?
g) using the charts indicate if you notice any trends about the types of metabolism used to degrade hydrocarbon spills.