Recall that E coli can grow in glucosesalts medium which con

Recall that E. coli can grow in glucose-salts medium, which contains only glucose and a few inorganic salts. This means the glucose is serving what two purposes in the cell? Starting point from which all cell components are made Energy source Source of nitrogen A monosaccharide from that the cell can assemble into polysaccharides such as cellulose for its cell wall Source of phosphate

Solution

The answer is E.coli, mainly uses glucose as the energy source

Escherichia coli is a heterotrophic organism, carbon is very important to E. coli because the bacterial cell is composed almost entirely of carbon molecules bound to other important elements. E. coli\'s main source of carbon comes from glucose molecules. This is then broken down into useable carbon by means of central metabolism, which consists of three steps:

1. Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) Pathway: converts glucose to pyruvate

2. Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) cycle: oxidizes Acetyl CoA to CO2

3. Pentose Phosphate Cycle (PPP): oxidizes glucose to CO2