CHAPTER 8
Aerobic and Anaerobic Reactions of Inorganic Substances
CLAUDE FROMAGEOT* and JACQUES C. SENEZ
Laboratoire de Chimie Biologique, Unwersiti de Paris,
and
Centre de Recherches Scientifiques, Industrielles et Maritimes du CNRS,
Marseille, France
I. General Considerations
347
A. Introduction
347
B. Energetics of Biological Litho-oxidations
350
C. Mechanism of Carbon Dioxide Assimilation by Chemo-lithotrophic
Bacteria
358
D. Interrelations between the Chemo-lithotrophic and Heterotrophic Modes
of Nutrition
364
II. Oxidation of Nitrogen Compounds
366
A. Nitrifying Microorganisms
366
B. Biochemistry of Nitrification
368
III. Oxidation of Sulfur and Sulfur Compounds
371
A. Sulfo-oxidizing Bacteria
371
B. Biochemistry of Sulfur Oxidation by Microorganisms .
.
.
.
376
C. Oxidation of Sulfur and Sulfur Compounds in Mammals
.
.
.
381
IV. Oxidation of Molecular Hydrogen
382
A. Organisms Possessing Hydrogenase
382
B. Properties and Constitution of Hydrogenase
388
V. Biological Litho-oxidations of Secondary Importance
397
A. Oxidation of Iron
397
B. Oxidation of Thiocyanate
400
C. Oxidation of Methane
401
D. Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide
402
References
403
I. General Considerations
A. INTRODUCTION
Biochemical processes which produce free energy from inorganic
substances are found in a wide variety of living matter. The importance
of this source of energy, however, varies greatly from one end of the
* Deceased January 10, 1958.
347