Metabolism
Photosynthesis takes place at reaction centers on the cell membrane, which is folded into the cell to form sacs, tubes, or sheets, increasing the available surface area.
Like most other photosynthetic bacteria, purple bacteria do not produce oxygen, because the reducing agent (electron donor) involved in photosynthesis is not water. In some, called purple sulfur bacteria, it is either sulfide or elemental sulfur. The others, called purple non-sulfur bacteria (aka PNSB), typically use hydrogen although some may use other compounds in small amounts. At one point these were considered families, but RNA trees show the purple bacteria make up a variety of separate groups, each closer relatives of non-photosynthetic proteobacteria than one another.
Read more about this topic: Purple Bacteria
Famous quotes containing the word metabolism:
“He’s got a fifteen percent metabolism with an overactive thyroid and a glandular affectation of about three percent. With a one percent mentality. He’s what we designate as the Crummy Moronic type.”
—Robert Pirosh, U.S. screenwriter, George Seaton, George Oppenheimer, and Sam Wood. Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush (Groucho Marx)