Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou, China.
Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 17;12(1):1709. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21709-z.
Long-distance extracellular electron transfer has been observed in Gram-negative bacteria and plays roles in both natural and engineering processes. The electron transfer can be mediated by conductive protein appendages (in short unicellular bacteria such as Geobacter species) or by conductive cell envelopes (in filamentous multicellular cable bacteria). Here we show that Lysinibacillus varians GY32, a filamentous unicellular Gram-positive bacterium, is capable of bidirectional extracellular electron transfer. In microbial fuel cells, L. varians can form centimetre-range conductive cellular networks and, when grown on graphite electrodes, the cells can reach a remarkable length of 1.08 mm. Atomic force microscopy and microelectrode analyses suggest that the conductivity is linked to pili-like protein appendages. Our results show that long-distance electron transfer is not limited to Gram-negative bacteria.
长程细胞外电子转移已在革兰氏阴性菌中被观察到,并在自然和工程过程中发挥作用。电子转移可以通过导电蛋白附属物(简而言之,如 Geobacter 属的单细胞细菌)或通过导电细胞包膜(丝状多细胞电缆细菌)来介导。在这里,我们表明,丝状单细胞革兰氏阳性细菌 Lysinibacillus varians GY32 能够进行双向细胞外电子转移。在微生物燃料电池中,L. varians 可以形成厘米级别的导电细胞网络,并且当在石墨电极上生长时,细胞可以达到 1.08 毫米的惊人长度。原子力显微镜和微电极分析表明,电导率与类菌毛样蛋白附属物有关。我们的结果表明,长程电子转移不仅限于革兰氏阴性菌。