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Microbial communities adapt their extracellular electron transfer (EET) to varying mineral potentials and carbon sources. This flexibility allows them to efficiently capture energy from diverse environmental conditions.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Environmental Science
  • Electrochemistry

Background:

  • Microbes utilize extracellular electron transfer (EET) to gain energy from solid electron acceptors like metal oxides.
  • Understanding how microbes sense and utilize diverse minerals with varying redox potentials is crucial but limited.
  • Geochemical processes rely on microbial interactions with minerals, impacting global biogeochemical cycles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the electrochemical, metabolic, and transcriptional responses of EET-active microbial communities to altered surface redox potentials and substrates.
  • To elucidate the mechanisms by which Geobacter/Pelobacter microbes sense and adapt their EET activity.
  • To understand the community-level adaptations enabling EET in dynamic environments.

Main Methods:

  • Stimulus-induced metatranscriptomics on a genome-centric level.
  • Metabolic pathway analysis.
  • Electrochemical measurements of microbial communities on poised electrodes.

Main Results:

  • Nine Geobacter/Pelobacter microbes exhibited differential EET activity based on preferred surface potentials and substrates.
  • These microbes possess numerous multi-heme c-type cytochromes and conductive pili, crucial for EET.
  • Gene expression varied significantly with changing substrates and potentials, modulating EET rates.
  • EET was accelerated on poised electrodes and limited in open circuit systems.

Conclusions:

  • Geobacter/Pelobacter microbes display remarkable metabolic and transcriptional flexibility in response to environmental cues.
  • Diverse EET mechanisms and microbial cooperation enable robust energy capture under fluctuating conditions.
  • This adaptability highlights the significant role of microbial communities in biogeochemical processes involving mineral-microbe interactions.