Students will know the most important groups of anaerobic microorganisms, their economic and medical importance, understand the basics of anaerobic metabolism and know about possible applications (e.g. biogas or dairy production).

Basic types of anaerobic metabolic pathways (fermentation, anaerobic respiration) are explained, examples regarding economic applications (eg alcoholic fermentation in connection with wine and beer production, lactic acid fermentation for the production of food, etc.) and anaerobic degradation of organic matter (especially in terms with biogas production) are discussed. The specifics of the Archaea, one of the three domains of life, are explained.

Lecture

Written examination

Fenchel,T., Finlay,B.J., 1995. Ecology and evolution in anoxic worlds. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 1-276pp.

Madigan,M.T., Martinko,J.M., Dunlap,P.V., Clark,D.P., 2011. Brock, Biology of Microorganisms. Pearson Education, Inc..

No prerequisites required.