Abstract
The presence and absence of oxygen divides the biosphere into oxic and anoxic ecosystems, provides aerobic and anaerobic living conditions and enables either aerobiontic or anaerobiontic organisms to grow. As an electron acceptor of a high positive redox-potential oxygen enables aerobiontic cells to channel the substrate-derived electrons through a long respiratory chain and to generate metabolic energy with great efficiency. Oxygen enables cells to utilize aliphatic, aromatic and isoprenoid hydrocarbons as substrates which are not biodegradable under anaerobic conditions. There is no doubt that the beneficial effects of oxygen prevail. Looking closer, however, one realizes that almost all organisms, irrespective of their metabolic type, are exposed to possible oxygen toxicity. Oxygen exerts detrimental effects on anaerobionts such as the strictly anaerobic bacteria like Succinivibrio, Butyrivibrio, Clostridium haemolyticum and the methanogenic bacteria (Loesche, 1969). But even the strictly aerobic bacteria and higher organisms suffer from damage by oxygen (Gottlieb, 1975). This is seen in the defense mechanisms which enable aerobic organisms to cope with oxygen toxicity. At least some of the toxic species of oxygen, such as hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anions, hydroxyl radicals and singlet oxygen, produced by the metabolizing cell can be detoxified or quenched by special enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidases and carotenoids and possibly other pigments (Fridovich, 1976; Hassan and Fridovich, 1978; Krinsky, 1978; Morris, dy1975, 1978).
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Schlegel, H.G. et al. (1981). Detrimental and Beneficial Effects of Oxygen Exerted on Hydrogen-Oxidizing Bacteria. In: Lyons, J.M., Valentine, R.C., Phillips, D.A., Rains, D.W., Huffaker, R.C. (eds) Genetic Engineering of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation and Conservation of Fixed Nitrogen. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3953-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3953-3_11
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