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The electrifying energy of gut microbes

Some bacteria make energy in a process that is accompanied by transfer of electrons to a mineral. A previously unknown electron-transfer pathway now reveals an energy-generation system used by bacteria in the human gut.
  1. Laty A. Cahoon

    1. Laty A. Cahoon is in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.

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  2. Nancy E. Freitag

    1. Nancy E. Freitag is in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.

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The ability of certain bacteria to transfer electrons has been exploited for a variety of energy-generating applications, such as microbial fuel cells1, because the flow of charge carried by electrons underlies the process that generates electricity. It was thought that the capacity to achieve substantial levels of electron transfer occurred only in a specialized subset of bacteria. These microbes make energy by a mechanism that requires minerals for the electron-transfer process that accompanies energy generation2. Writing in Nature, Light et al.3 report the discovery of an electron-transfer pathway in gut bacteria, and reveal that components of this pathway are present in diverse microbial species.

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Nature 562, 43-44 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06180-z

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