After this course you are able to:

• In guided cooperation and on the basis op primary literature, inform your colleagues on new developments in the scientific field.
• Describe experimental results in scientific reports.
• Apply the gained knowledge to the analysis both of bio-energetic processes of individual species and of cooperation and competition between different species
• Explain how anaerobic microorganisms are able to conserve their energy for growth on the basis of general bioenergetics principles.
• Describe how microbial metabolism adapts to the changing environment at the molecular level.
  

This course covers two central themes in Microbial Physiology: (1) the way energy is conserved and (2) regulation of metabolic processes in relation to changes in the environment and changes in the supply of energy substrates in particular. Starting from this molecular basis, we will come to a fundamental understanding of the behaviour of microorganisms in their natural environment. Specific subjects that will be discussed are the following:

1. Metabolism and bio-energetics of aerobic and anaerobic microorgansims
   • General principles of bioenergetic processes
   • Aerobic and anaerobic respiration
   • Fermentations
2. Metabolic interactions between microorganisms:
   
   • Role of microorganisms in element cycling
   • Competition and cooperation
   • ‘Interspecies substrate transfer’
   • Application in biotechnological systems
3. Regulatory systems of microorganisms: adaptation to a changing environment
   • General principles of regulatory systems
   • Regulation of metabolic processes
   • Stress response

New developments in the scientific field will be studied in working groups. At the end of the course, students will present their gained knowledge in a colloquium.
The main focus of the course is on chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms and their role in element cycling. By this choice, the basis is laid both for a subsequent course “Ecologie van Micro-organismen” and for the educational program and research at the Department of Microbiology during the Master’s.