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Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
| Content Provider | AK Lectures |
|---|---|
| Description | All living organisms, including both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, require three different things to survive and grow. These three things are energy, carbon and electrons. As one particular example, consider that we humans require energy to power the different processes in our body (such as send electrical signals between nerve cells), we need carbon to synthesize the different macromolecules found in our body (such as proteins) and we need electrons to reduce molecules and produce other useful compounds (such as adenosine triphosphate). Since all living organisms need to somehow obtain these three things, we can actually categorize organisms based on how they obtain these sources. Autotrophs are those organisms that can synthesize organic compounds (such as sugars) by using inorganic materials such as carbon dioxide. One prime example of autotrophs are plants because they can synthesize sugars form carbon dioxide and water. Heterotrophs are those organisms that cannot synthesize organic materials form inorganic ones and must obtain their carbon source from other organisms. Humans are an example of heterotrophs because we obtain carbon from food sources (other organisms). We can also categorize organisms based on their energy source. Those organisms that obtain energy from light are known as phototrophs (i.e. plants) while organisms that do not use light as energy source but rather obtain their energy (i.e. ATP) by oxidizing organic or inorganic substances are known as chemotrophs (i.e. humans breakdown macromolecules to create high energy molecules called ATP). Finally, we can categorize the organisms based on their electron source. Those organisms that obtain their electron source from organic matter (such as humans obtaining their electron source from macromolecules) are known as organotrophs while those organisms that obtain their electron source from inorganic matter are known as lithotrophs. |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Biology oxidizing organotrophs prokaryotes substances proteins organisms chemotrophs power electrons |
| Content Type | Video |
| Educational Role | Teacher Student |
| Educational Use | Self Learning Lecture Reading |
| Resource Type | Video Lecture |
| Education Level | Under Graduate |
| Subject | Microorganisms, fungi & algae |
