Thermophiles; or, the Modern Prometheus: The Importance of Extreme Microorganisms for Understanding and Applying Extracellular Electron Transfer.

ABSTRACT: Approximately four billion years ago, the first microorganisms to thrive on earth were anaerobic chemoautotrophic thermophiles, a specific group of extremophiles that survive and operate at temperatures ∼50 - 125°C and do not use molecular oxygen (O₂) for respiration. Instead, these microorganisms performed respiration via dissimilatory metal reduction by transferring their electrons extracellularly to insoluble electron acceptors. Genetic evidence suggests that Gram-positive thermophilic bacteria capable of extracellular electron transfer (EET) are positioned close to the root of the Bacteria kingdom on the tree of life. On the contrary, EET in Gram-negative mesophilic bacteria is a relatively new phenomenon that is evolutionarily distinct from Gram-positive bacteria. This sugg

SUBMITTER: Lusk BG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6497744 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature