《生物学专业英语》A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic.pptVIP

Get Your Biology Textbook...and an Eraser! A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus Life is mostly composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus. Although these six elements make up nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids and thus the bulk of living matter, it is theoretically possible that some other elements in the periodic table could serve the same functions. Here, we describe a bacterium, strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae盐单胞菌科, isolated from Mono Lake, California, which substitutes arsenic for phosphorus to sustain its growth. O