The Leeuwenhoek Lecture, 1995. Adaptation to life without oxygen

The Earth was populated by anaerobic organisms for at least a thousand million years before the atmosphere became oxygenated and aerobes could evolve. Many bacteria like Escherichia coli retain the ability to grow under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Recent studies have revealed some global regulatory mechanisms for activating or repressing the expression of relevant genes in response to oxygen availability. These mechanisms ensure that the appropriate metabolic mode is adopted when bacteria switch between aerobic and anaerobic environments.