Why are anaerobic organisms simple and aerobic organisms complex?

Michael Kolotila x3887 mkolotila at NECCADM1.NECC.MASS.EDU
Mon Nov 27 08:58:19 EST 1995

Hi Joy;
It is a matter of being multicellular.  Aerobic bacteria have a level of 
complexity on par with anaerobic bacteria.  However, when you are 
multicellular gas exchange through diffusion becomes a problem.  
Diffusion is effective over short distances.  Open a bottle of perfume in 
a room and see how it takes to reach the other side.  So with 
multicellular organisms it becomes neccessary to specialize cells into 
structures that will transport oxygen to all of the cells.  Then you can 
expand the problem to nutrients and waste removals.  The upshot is that 
you engineer a complex organism.
Hope that this helps.

 Michael P. Kolotila, Ph.D.        * e-mail: mkolotila at neccadm1.necc.mass.edu   
 Biotechnology Program Coordinator *          
 Department of Natural Science     * voice :  508-374-3887
 Northern Essex Community College  *
 100 Elliott Way                   * fax   :  508-374-3723
 Haverhill, MA  01830-2399         *        

On 23 Nov 1995, Joy Abramson wrote:

> Why are anaerobic organisms limited to being simple, small, and 
> unicellular while aerobic organisms may be large complex, and 
> multicellular?
> Thanks,
> Joy Abramson
> ad954 at torfree.net

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