Ruminococcus flavefaciens, a cellulose degrader, produces acetate, formate and succinate from glucose in axenic batch cultures. This fermentation pattern is shifted if Methanobrevibacter ruminantium, a hydrogenotrophic and formatotrophic methanogen is added as a syntroph to the Ruminococcus culture. Suggestions for metabolic schemes describing the two patterns are offered in the exercise and the student is asked to complement them with the quantitative information given.

The exercise refers to experiment 1 of the course "Diversity of Microorganisms - Bio III" and to the corresponding chapters in Madigan M.T., J.M. Martinko and J. Parker: "Brock - Biology of Microorganisms", 9th or 10th Edition (1999 and 2003), Prentice Hall. Fig. 16.41 in BBOM 9th (pg 683) or Fig. 19.28 in BBOM 10th (pg 660) should be consulted before attempting to solve this problem.