Question

If two species of bacteria use glucose as an electron donor, but species a uses oxygen as the final electron acceptor and species b uses nitrate, then how much glucose would species b need to use to generate the same amount of atp as species a? see section 26.3 (page 526) .

Answer 1

Species B would need about 60% more glucose to generate the same amount of ATP as species A. This is because molecular oxygen is a highly oxidizing agent and therefore, is an excellent electron acceptor compared to other less-oxidizing substances such as sulfate, nitrate or fumarate.