Section for Microbiology and Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; email:
Ann Rev Mar Sci. 2015;7:425-42. doi: 10.1146/annurev-marine-010814-015708. Epub 2014 Sep 19.
The discovery of electric currents in marine sediments arose from a simple observation that conventional biogeochemistry could not explain: Sulfide oxidation in one place is closely coupled to oxygen reduction in another place, centimeters away. After experiments demonstrated that this resulted from electric coupling, the conductors were found to be long, multicellular, filamentous bacteria, now known as cable bacteria. The spatial separation of oxidation and reduction processes by these bacteria represents a shortcut in the conventional cascade of redox processes and may drive most of the oxygen consumption. In addition, it implies a separation of strong proton generators and consumers and the formation of measurable electric fields, which have several effects on mineral development and ion migration. This article reviews the work on electric currents and cable bacteria published through April 2014, with an emphasis on general trends, thought-provoking consequences, and new questions to address.
海洋沉积物中电流的发现源于一个简单的观察结果，即传统的生物地球化学无法解释：一处的硫化物氧化与几厘米外另一处的氧气还原密切耦合。实验证明这是电偶联的结果后，发现导体是长的、多细胞的、丝状细菌，现在称为电缆细菌。这些细菌将氧化和还原过程分隔开来，这是传统氧化还原过程级联的一个捷径，可能驱动了大部分氧气消耗。此外，这意味着强质子产生者和消费者的分离以及可测量电场的形成，这对矿物发育和离子迁移有几种影响。本文综述了截至 2014 年 4 月发表的关于电流和电缆细菌的研究工作，重点介绍了一般趋势、发人深省的后果和新的需要解决的问题。
