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Biotechnology

Metal-like conductivity in microbial nanowires

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 9, page 700 (2011)Cite this article

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pili can account for the electron flow through biofilms

Previous studies of microbial nanowires gave contrasting results concerning the possible role of pilins and outer-surface c-type cytochromes in electron transfer. To investigate the conductivity of these nanowires, Malvankar et al. grew biofilms of G. sulfurreducens in a microbial fuel cell in which the anode (which serves as the electron acceptor to support growth) was composed of two gold electrodes separated by a non-conductive gap of 50 μm. The production of current and the conductivity between anode and cathode increased over time as cells grew in a biofilm that spread across the gap. Biofilms were conductive over distances of more than 1 cm, with conductivity values (5 mS cm−1) that were comparable to those of synthetic organic metals such as polyaniline and polyacetylene. By manipulating the medium composition and using various G. sulfurreducens strains (including one that lacked four abundant outer-surface c-type cytochromes), the authors found that biofilm conductivity correlated with pilin content. Furthermore, purified pili showed a conductivity that was comparable to that of peeled biofilms, even after treatment with the cytochrome-denaturing agent β-mercaptoethanol. These results indicate that G. sulfurreducens pili can account for the electron flow through biofilms.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Malvankar, N. S. et al. Tunable metallic-like conductivity in microbial nanowire networks. Nature Nanotech. 7 Aug 2011 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.119)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Logan, B. E. Exoelectrogenic bacteria that power microbial fuel cells. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 7, 375–381 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Cesar Sanchez
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Sanchez, C. Metal-like conductivity in microbial nanowires. Nat Rev Microbiol 9, 700 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2654

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