This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Richter, H.
Right arrow Articles by Lovley, D. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Richter, H.
Right arrow Articles by Lovley, D. R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Richter, H.
Right arrow Articles by Lovley, D. R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 5347-5353, Vol. 73, No. 16
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00804-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Lack of Electricity Production by Pelobacter carbinolicus Indicates that the Capacity for Fe(III) Oxide Reduction Does Not Necessarily Confer Electron Transfer Ability to Fuel Cell Anodes{triangledown}

Hanno Richter,* Martin Lanthier, Kelly P. Nevin, and Derek R. Lovley

Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003

Received 10 April 2007/ Accepted 8 June 2007

The ability of Pelobacter carbinolicus to oxidize electron donors with electron transfer to the anodes of microbial fuel cells was evaluated because microorganisms closely related to Pelobacter species are generally abundant on the anodes of microbial fuel cells harvesting electricity from aquatic sediments. P. carbinolicus could not produce current in a microbial fuel cell with electron donors which support Fe(III) oxide reduction by this organism. Current was produced using a coculture of P. carbinolicus and Geobacter sulfurreducens with ethanol as the fuel. Ethanol consumption was associated with the transitory accumulation of acetate and hydrogen. G. sulfurreducens alone could not metabolize ethanol, suggesting that P. carbinolicus grew in the fuel cell by converting ethanol to hydrogen and acetate, which G. sulfurreducens oxidized with electron transfer to the anode. Up to 83% of the electrons available in ethanol were recovered as electricity and in the metabolic intermediate acetate. Hydrogen consumption by G. sulfurreducens was important for ethanol metabolism by P. carbinolicus. Confocal microscopy and analysis of 16S rRNA genes revealed that half of the cells growing on the anode surface were P. carbinolicus, but there was a nearly equal number of planktonic cells of P. carbinolicus. In contrast, G. sulfurreducens was primarily attached to the anode. P. carbinolicus represents the first Fe(III) oxide-reducing microorganism found to be unable to produce current in a microbial fuel cell, providing the first suggestion that the mechanisms for extracellular electron transfer to Fe(III) oxides and fuel cell anodes may be different.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-1251. Fax: (413) 577-4660. E-mail: hrichter{at}microbio.umass.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 June 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 5347-5353, Vol. 73, No. 16
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00804-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Rezaei, F., Xing, D., Wagner, R., Regan, J. M., Richard, T. L., Logan, B. E. (2009). Simultaneous Cellulose Degradation and Electricity Production by Enterobacter cloacae in a Microbial Fuel Cell. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 3673-3678 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Strycharz, S. M., Woodard, T. L., Johnson, J. P., Nevin, K. P., Sanford, R. A., Loffler, F. E., Lovley, D. R. (2008). Graphite Electrode as a Sole Electron Donor for Reductive Dechlorination of Tetrachlorethene by Geobacter lovleyi. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 5943-5947 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Haveman, S. A., DiDonato, R. J. Jr., Villanueva, L., Shelobolina, E. S., Postier, B. L., Xu, B., Liu, A., Lovley, D. R. (2008). Genome-Wide Gene Expression Patterns and Growth Requirements Suggest that Pelobacter carbinolicus Reduces Fe(III) Indirectly via Sulfide Production. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 4277-4284 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zuo, Y., Xing, D., Regan, J. M., Logan, B. E. (2008). Isolation of the Exoelectrogenic Bacterium Ochrobactrum anthropi YZ-1 by Using a U-Tube Microbial Fuel Cell. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 3130-3137 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Holmes, D. E., Mester, T., O'Neil, R. A., Perpetua, L. A., Larrahondo, M. J., Glaven, R., Sharma, M. L., Ward, J. E., Nevin, K. P., Lovley, D. R. (2008). Genes for two multicopper proteins required for Fe(III) oxide reduction in Geobacter sulfurreducens have different expression patterns both in the subsurface and on energy-harvesting electrodes. Microbiology 154: 1422-1435 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»