Bacterial nutrition

• microbial growth - requires suitable environmental conditions, a source of energy for life processes, nourishment, and synthesizing or building up protoplasm.
• Food - raw material from which nutrients are derived.
• Nutrients - direct requirement of a cell
• Inorganic or Organic substances - which actually pass in solution through the cytoplasmic membrane.
• Types of nutrition: depends on the form of nutrient ingested or absorbed.

  1. Holozoic - solid food is ingested
  2. Holophytic - nutrients are taken in solution with water; digestion is extracellular.