Improving the Cathodic Biofilm Growth Capabilities of EA-1 by Undirected Mutagenesis.

The biotechnological usage of carbon dioxide has become a relevant aim for future processes. Microbial electrosynthesis is a rather new technique to energize biological CO fixation with the advantage to establish a continuous process based on a cathodic biofilm that is supplied with renewable electrical energy as electron and energy source. In this study, the recently characterized cathodic biofilm forming microorganism strain EA-1 was used in an adaptive laboratory evolution experiment to enhance its cathodic biofilm growth capabilities. At the end of the experiment, the adapted cathodic population exhibited an up to fourfold higher biofilm accumulation rate, as well as faster substratum coverage and a more uniform biofilm morphology compared to the progenitor strain. Genomic variant analysis revealed a genomically heterogeneous population with genetic variations occurring to various extends throughout the community. Via the conducted analysis we identified possible targets for future genetic engineering with the aim to further optimize cathodic growth. Moreover, the results assist in elucidating the underlying processes that enable cathodic biofilm formation.