aerotolerant

METPO:1000609 · CLASS · REVIEWED

An oxygen preference that does not use O₂ for growth but tolerates its presence.

Aerotolerant anaerobe ROS-defense mechanism

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking aerotolerance to anaerobic growth plus enzymatic defenses against oxygen-derived stress.

Edge evidence

aerotolerant includes anaerobic growth biolink:has_part
Aerotolerant anaerobes grow anaerobically while tolerating oxygen.
- DOI:10.1038/nrmicro2970 Aerotolerant anaerobes ... ROS defence ... Anaerobic growth Table classifies aerotolerant anaerobes as anaerobic-growth organisms with ROS defence.
molecular oxygen can generate reactive oxygen species
Oxygen exposure creates ROS stress that aerotolerant organisms must defend against.
- DOI:10.1038/s41579-021-00583-y molecular oxygen and ROS Review links oxygen exposure and reactive oxygen species in anaerobes.
superoxide dismutase contributes to aerotolerant RO:0002326
Superoxide dismutase abundance is associated with oxygen tolerance among anaerobic bacteria.
- DOI:10.1128/iai.16.1.20-25.1977 aerotolerant and intermediate organisms had SOD Comparative anaerobe study supports SOD as an oxygen-tolerance factor.
superoxide dismutase mitigates reactive oxygen species METPO:2007407
SOD mitigates superoxide stress generated during oxygen exposure.
- DOI:10.1128/iai.16.1.20-25.1977 oxygen tolerance of anaerobes is usually related to their level of SOD Supports SOD as a ROS-defense mechanism for aerotolerant anaerobes.
catalase enables hydrogen peroxide detoxification RO:0002327
Catalase degrades hydrogen peroxide, enabling its detoxification.
- DOI:10.1038/s43705-023-00251-7 catalase degrades H2O2 rapidly at higher concentrations
rubrerythrin decreases hydrogen peroxide RO:0002212
Rubrerythrin scavenges low levels of hydrogen peroxide.
- DOI:10.1038/s43705-023-00251-7 rubrerythrins scavenge low H2O2 levels
NADH peroxidase decreases hydrogen peroxide RO:0002212
NADH peroxidase reduces hydrogen peroxide to water.
- DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-41185-3 NADH + H+ + H2O2 reversible to NAD+ + 2 H2O
NADPH peroxidase decreases hydrogen peroxide RO:0002212
NADPH peroxidase reduces hydrogen peroxide to water.
- DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-41185-3 an analogous NADPH peroxidase produces NADP+

Provenance

Source: METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source: https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Ohio_State_University/Microbiology_Lab_SP25/05%3A_Lab_5/5.05%3A_Bacterial_Oxygen_Requirements

Parent traits (1)

oxygen preference METPO:1000601

Synonyms (1)

aerotolerant anaerobe RELATED_SYNONYM · https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Ohio_State_University/Microbiology_Lab_SP25/05%3A_Lab_5/5.05%3A_Bacterial_Oxygen_Requirements

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via direct_metpo.

METPO:1000609 [+0.004, -0.947, -1.036, -0.467, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

environment oxygen preference 0.766
environment microaerotolerant 0.692
environment obligately piezophilic 0.447
morphology gas vesicle 0.447
physiology natural competence 0.447
morphology carboxysome 0.447
environment metal tolerant 0.447
physiology oxidase activity 0.447

Curation history

2026-05-05T01:35:46.853836+00:00 · SEEDED_FROM_METPO · seed_from_metpo
imported from data/raw/metpo.owl (CLASS)
2026-05-05T01:09:05-07:00 · CURATED_WITH_LITERATURE · codex
Added definition source, supported synonym, and evidence for aerotolerance.
2026-05-05T18:39:46-07:00 · ADDED_ORGANISM_EXAMPLE · codex
Added Clostridium perfringens organism example with PMID-backed evidence.
2026-05-10T00:00:00-07:00 · ADDED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · codex
Added DOI-backed causal graph for aerotolerance and ROS-defense mechanisms in anaerobes.
2026-05-20T03:35:29Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (RO:0002326×1).
2026-05-23T21:30:06Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2007407×1).
2026-05-24T05:05:13Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A009QPW9×1).
2026-06-13T21:03:25Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (biolink:has_part×1).
2026-06-17T04:09:43Z · REMOVE_REDUNDANT_SYNONYM · claude
Removed 1 synonym(s) whose text duplicated the label (seeder redundancy; no information lost).
2026-06-23T00:00:00Z · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude
Added 4 evidence-backed generic edges (6 new nodes) from the deep-research report.
2026-06-24T17:21:09Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude
Grounded 4 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (RO:0002212×3, RO:0002327×1).
2026-06-24T17:21:16Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A071MK53×1).
2026-06-24T17:23:30Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 2 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:16240×1, GO:0033355×1).
2026-06-26T07:15:17Z · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 2 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A016EEI2×1, UniProtKB:A0A031WCC0×1).