Intestinal
bacteria can create an electric current, according to a new study from Lund
University in Sweden. The results are valuable for the development of drugs,
but also for the production of bioenergy, for example.
It
is already known that bacteria can create an electric current outside their own
cell, known as extracellular electron transport. This has been demonstrated and
analysed in detail in some bacteria that specialise in the metabolism of metal
salts.
A
group of researchers has now studied extracellular electron transport in a
completely different type of bacterium -- the lactic acid bacterium
Enterococcus faecalis, which can be found in the gastrointestinal tract of both
humans and animals.
In
the study, the researchers investigated what it takes for electrons from the
bacterium to be transported to an electrode. The results from their experiments
show that enterococci placed at an electrode can give rise to an electric
current created by the metabolism of the cell. The electrons are released when
the bacterium breaks down sugar inside its cell. The actual transmission of
electrons to the electrode takes place with the help of what are known as
quinone molecules inside the cell membrane.
The
results in the study also show that a bacterium in its natural environment,
i.e. together with other bacteria and fungi, may have properties that it
otherwise lacks. What happens is that two or more types of microorganisms
intertwine their metabolic capacity to benefit the growth of one or both of the
organisms. According to the study, this form of cooperation between
microorganisms, known as synthrophy, may be linked to electron transport
between the parties involved.
See:
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology
