Question

Which of the following does not have the property of production of secondary metabolites?

(a) Filamentous fungi

(b) Filamentous bacteria

(c) Sporing bacteria

(d) Enterobacteria

The question was asked in a national level competition.

Enquiry is from The Range of Fermentation Processes topic in division Introduction to Fermentation Processes & Media for Industrial Fermentation of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer 1

Correct answer is (d) Enterobacteria

Explanation: Not all microorganisms undergo secondary metabolism – it is common amongst the filamentous bacteria and fungi and the sporing bacteria but it is not found, for example, in the Enterobacteriaceae. Thus, the taxonomic distribution of secondary metabolism is quite different from that of primary metabolism.