Asked • 05/29/19

Do strictly anaerobic organisms use metabolic reactions requiring oxygen?

When looking through genome annotations of strictly anaerobic organisms I see reactions featuring oxygen. I suspect these are likely an artifact of the annotation process. But I am wondering if it is possible for such organisms to have oxygen associated metabolism. Strict anaerobes are known to die in the presence of oxygen due to the lack oxidative stress pathways. So I cannot think of any reason for oxygen to be part of their metabolism.

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