Long-distance electron transfer in a filamentous Gram-positive bacterium

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21709-z
• Publication Date: 2021-03-17T11:03:23Z
• Authors: Yonggang Yang; Zegao Wang; Cuifen Gan; Lasse Hyldgaard K...; Robin Bonné; Guannan Kong; Dizhou Luo; Mathijs Meert; Chunjie Zhu; Guoping Sun; Jun Guo; Yuxin Ma; Jesper Tataru Bjerg; Jean Manca; Meiying Xu; Lars Peter Nielsen; Mingdong Dong
• Keywords: Geobacter sulfurreducens; Geobacter; Multicellular organism; Gram-Negative Bacteria

Abstract Long-distance extracellular electron transfer has been observed in Gram-negative bacteria and plays roles both natural engineering processes. The can be mediated by conductive protein appendages (in short unicellular such as Geobacter species) or cell envelopes filamentous multicellular cable bacteria). Here we show that Lysinibacillus varians GY32, a Gram-positive bacterium, is capable of bidirectional transfer. In microbial fuel cells, L. form centimetre-range cellular networks and, when grown on graphite electrodes, the cells reach remarkable length 1.08 mm. Atomic force microscopy microelectrode analyses suggest conductivity linked to pili-like appendages. Our results long-distance not limited bacteria.