Electron Transfer in Novel Filamentous Cable Bacteria

Abstract

We propose basic research to explore the electron transfer mechanism employed by novelfilamentous sulfur-oxidizing cable bacteria. Having recently discovered that a possibly new familyof marine cable bacteria will attach to the anodes of microbial fuel cells (F"igures 1 and 2), thepromise of these bacteria for enhancing the performance of microbial fuel cells and understandingalternate pat"hways of biological electrical conduction will be tested. Cable bacteria will first beenriched by utilizing bioelectrochemical reactors that are specifically designed to allow the naturaldevelopment of a filament network in marine sediments and electrode-associated growth of cablebacteria. Enriched microbial cultures that contain cable bacteria will be analyzed by fluorescencein situ hybridization (FISH) to confirm their genotype. Successful enrichment will enablequantitative analysis of electron transfer along cable" bacteria filaments. Electrochemical, labeling,electron microscope and OMICs tools will be used to elucidate the electron transfer" pathway andpotential symbioses. Successful enrichment may lead to isolation via dilution-to-extinction inspecial U-shaped bioelectrochemical reactors.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Jun 09, 2017
Source ID
N000141712599

Entities

People

  • Clare Reimers

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • Oregon State University
  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery.
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Microbial Pathology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biotechnology - Bioremediation
  • Microelectronics