NanoSIMS imaging reveals metabolic stratification within current-producing biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Metal-reducing bacteria direct electrons to their outer surfaces, where insoluble metal oxides or electrodes act as terminal electron acceptors, generating electrical current from anaerobic respiration. Geobacter sulfurreducens is a commonly enriched electricity-producing organism, forming thick conductive biofilms that magnify total activity by supporting respiration of cells not in direct contact with electrodes. Hypotheses explaining why these biofilms fail to produce higher current densities suggest inhibition by formation of pH, nutrient, or redox potential gradients; but these explanations are often contradictory, and a lack of direct measurements of cellular growth within biofilms prevents discrimination between these models. To address this fundamental question, we measured the ana

SUBMITTER: Chadwick GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6789570 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature