Conjugative plasmids inhibit extracellular electron transfer in Geobacter sulfurreducens.

ABSTRACT: Geobacter sulfurreducens is part of a specialized group of microbes with the unique ability to exchange electrons with insoluble materials, such as iron oxides and electrodes. Therefore, G. sulfurreducens plays an essential role in the biogeochemical iron cycle and microbial electrochemical systems. In G. sulfurreducens this ability is primarily dependent on electrically conductive nanowires that link internal electron flow from metabolism to solid electron acceptors in the extracellular environment. Here we show that when carrying conjugative plasmids, which are self-transmissible plasmids that are ubiquitous in environmental bacteria, G. sulfurreducens reduces insoluble iron oxides at much slower rates. This was the case for all three conjugative plasmids test

SUBMITTER: Fessler M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10063792 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature