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PMID:15973408
| Citation |
Reguera, G, McCarthy, KD, Mehta, T, Nicoll, JS, Tuominen, MT and Lovley, DR (2005) Extracellular electron transfer via microbial nanowires. Nature 435:1098-101 |
|---|---|
| Abstract |
Microbes that can transfer electrons to extracellular electron acceptors, such as Fe(iii) oxides, are important in organic matter degradation and nutrient cycling in soils and sediments. Previous investigations on electron transfer to Fe(iii) have focused on the role of outer-membrane c-type cytochromes. However, some Fe(iii) reducers lack c-cytochromes. Geobacter species, which are the predominant Fe(iii) reducers in many environments, must directly contact Fe(iii) oxides to reduce them, and produce monolateral pili that were proposed, on the basis of the role of pili in other organisms, to aid in establishing contact with the Fe(iii) oxides. Here we report that a pilus-deficient mutant of Geobacter sulfurreducens could not reduce Fe(iii) oxides but could attach to them. Conducting-probe atomic force microscopy revealed that the pili were highly conductive. These results indicate that the pili of G. sulfurreducens might serve as biological nanowires, transferring electrons from the cell surface to the surface of Fe(iii) oxides. Electron transfer through pili indicates possibilities for other unique cell-surface and cell-cell interactions, and for bioengineering of novel conductive materials. |
| Links |
PubMed Online version:10.1038/nature03661 |
| Keywords |
Biotechnology; Electric Conductivity; Electron Transport; Ferric Compounds/metabolism; Fimbriae Proteins/chemistry; Fimbriae Proteins/genetics; Fimbriae Proteins/metabolism; Fimbriae, Bacterial/genetics; Fimbriae, Bacterial/metabolism; Fimbriae, Bacterial/physiology; Genes, Bacterial/genetics; Geobacter/genetics; Geobacter/metabolism; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Mutation/genetics; Nanostructures; Phylogeny |
| edit table |
Significance
Annotations
| Gene product | Qualifier | GO Term | Evidence Code | with/from | Aspect | Extension | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
involved_in |
GO:0009297: pilus assembly |
ECO:0000315: mutant phenotype evidence used in manual assertion |
P |
Seeded From UniProt |
complete | |||
| GO:0009297: pilus assembly |
ECO:0000315: |
P |
Figure 2 shows that pilA deficient mutants are unable to produce pili compared to the wild-type, and that complementation of the mutant strain with a functional copy of pilA restores function. |
complete | ||||
See also
References
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