chemoautotrophyn.
/ˌkiːməʊˈɔːtə(ʊ)ˌtrəʊfi/, /ˌkɛməʊˈɔːtə(ʊ)ˌtrəʊfi/, U.S. /ˌkimoʊˈɔdoʊˌtroʊfi/, /ˌkimoʊˈɑdoʊˌtroʊfi/, /ˌkɛmoʊˈɔdoʊˌtroʊfi/, /ˌkɛmoʊˈɑdoʊˌtroʊfi/ Biology.
A form of chemotrophic nutrition in which energy derived from chemical reactions is used to synthesize complex organic compounds from carbon dioxide. Contrasted with chemoheterotrophy n. and with photoautotrophy n.Such nutrition may require an organic compound as an electron donor for biosynthesis; but cf. chemolithoautotrophy n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in relation to habitat > [noun] > conditions of
plasticity1858
modification1875
tolerance1898
autotrophy1900
heterotrophism1900
sympatry1904
heterotrophy1930
zootrophy1930
chemoautotrophism1943
chemolithotrophy1947
chemoorganotrophy1947
chemotrophy1947
chemoautotrophy1949
prototrophy1949
auxotrophy1953
photoautotrophy1961
photoheterotrophy1961
opportunism1967
chemoheterotrophy1972
chemolithoautotrophy1976
psychrotolerance1977
1949 Obituary Notices Fellows Royal Soc. 6 473 The famous investigations on sulphur bacteria which led to the discovery of chemo-autotrophy.
1967 Q. Rev. Biol. 42 102/1 The origin of life on Earth is imagined to involve primitive chemautotrophy.
1998 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95 9400/1 Concentrations of biological activity dependent on bacterial chemautotrophy have been discovered at redox boundaries associated with hot vents, cold seeps, and the oxygen minimum zones.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1949