Requirements for Carbon, Hydrogen & Oxygen

1. Dr. Deepak U. Bhusare
Department of Microbiology
D. B. ACS College, Bhokar.

2. Carbon
 Carbon is required for proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids.
 Majority of carbon compounds involved in the normal structure and
metabolism of all cells are organic.
 An autotroph is an organism that uses CO2

3. Hydrogen
 Hydrogen is a major element in all organic compounds and several inorganic
ones, including water (H2O), salts (Ca[OH]2), and certain naturally occurring
gases (H2S, CH4, and H2).
 These gases are both used and produced by microbes.
 Hydrogen performs the following overlapping roles in the biochemistry of cells:
(1) Maintaining pH,
(2) Forming hydrogen bonds between molecules, and
(3) Serving as the source of free energy in oxidation-reduction reactions
of respiration.

4. Oxygen
 A colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula O2. Diatomic oxygen gas
constitutes 20.8% of the Earth's atmosphere.
 Dioxygen is used in cellular respiration and many major classes of organic
molecules in living organisms contain oxygen, such as proteins, nucleic
acids, carbohydrates, and fats, as do the major constituent inorganic compounds of
animal shells, teeth, and bone.
 Most of the mass of living organisms is oxygen as a component of water, the
major constituent of lifeforms.
 Oxygen is continuously replenished by photosynthesis, which uses the energy of
sunlight to produce oxygen from water and carbon dioxide.
 Oxygen is too chemically reactive to remain a free element in air without being
continuously replenished by the photosynthetic action of living organisms.
Ref: www. Google.com

5. Thank You