Demystifying anaerobic respiration: a problem-solving exercise

Abstract

Anaerobic respiration reactions are of fundamental importance to global biogeochemical cycling of elements. Yet, the idea that cellular respiration can occur not only in the absence of oxygen but also involve the oxidation of inorganic substrates (e.g., AsO33-, Fe2+, H2, H2S, Mn2+, NH3, and S0) is often foreign to many undergraduate students. This article describes a problem-solving exercise where students are introduced to the thermodynamic fundamentals of respiration with a particular focus on the role of redox (reduction-oxidation) potentials (E0). In the exercise, the students investigate how the difference in redox potential (Delta E0) between different pairs of reductants and oxidants affects the range of permissible microbial metabolic reactions in natural environments when oxygen is absent.

Keywords

active learning; problem-based learning; anaerobic respiration; redox potential; metabolism

Published in

Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
2024, Publisher: AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY

SLU Authors

• Linder, Tomas

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Learning


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00044-24

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/131910