Organic Terminal Electron Acceptors
A number of organisms, instead of using inorganic compounds as terminal electron acceptors, are able to use organic compounds to accept electrons from respiration. Examples include:
- Fumarate reduction to succinate
- Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) reduction to trimethylamine (TMA)
- Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) reduction to Dimethyl sulfide (DMS)
- Reductive dechlorination
TMAO is a chemical commonly produced by fish, and when reduced to TMA produces a strong odor. DMSO is a common marine and freshwater chemical which is also odiferous when reduced to DMS. Reductive dechlorination is the process by which chlorinated organic compounds are reduced to form their non-chlorinated endproducts. As chlorinated organic compounds are often important (and difficult to degrade) environmental polutants, reductive dechlorination is an important process in bioremediation.
Read more about this topic: Microbial Metabolism, Anaerobic Respiration
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