Measuring conductivity of living geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe To the Editor Certain microorganisms can use an electrode as a metabolic electron acceptor or donor by means of extracellular electron

transport (EET) processes1,2. Such microorganisms are studied as potential catalysts for electrode reactions such as the electrosynthesis of fuel precursors from reduction of CO2 using

renewable sources of electricity3. The appeal of microbial electrode catalysts is that they self-assemble and self-heal, and the prospect of optimizing their catalytic properties (for

example, reaction product and yield) through molecular engineering. In addition to enabling electron transport across a microbial/electrode interface, EET processes can often facilitate

long-distance electron transport, resulting in the formation of multi-cell-thick electrode-grown biofilms, which are electrically conductive and can exceed 100 μm thickness. Such biofilms

challenge the notion that biological electron transport is limited to molecular length scales. The fundamental mechanism of EET underlying biofilm conductivity has implications across many

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Google Scholar  * Boyd, D. A. et al. in _Electrochemically-Active Biofilms in Bioelectrochemical Systems: From Laboratory Practice to Data Interpretation_ (ed. Beyenal, H.) Ch. 6, 177–210

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Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS M.D.Y., S.M.S.-G., J.P.G., J.R., J.S.E. and L.M.T. acknowledge the Office of Naval Research (award number N0001415WX01038

and N0001415WX00195), the Naval Research Laboratory and the Naval Research Laboratory Nanosciences Institute; M.Y.E.-N. is supported by the US Department of Energy grant DE-FG02-13ER16415.

AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, 20375, Washington DC, USA Matthew D. Yates, Sarah M.

Strycharz-Glaven, Joel P. Golden, Jared Roy, Jeffrey S. Erickson & Leonard M. Tender * National Research Council, 20418, Washington DC, USA Matthew D. Yates * George Mason University,

Fairfax, 22030, Virginia, USA Jared Roy * Chemistry Division, Naval Research Laboratory, 20375, Washington DC, USA Stanislav Tsoi * Departments of Physics, Biological Sciences, and

Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089, California, USA Mohamed Y. El-Naggar * Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University,

East Lansing, 48824, Michigan, USA Scott Calabrese Barton Authors * Matthew D. Yates View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Sarah M.

Strycharz-Glaven View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Joel P. Golden View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Jared Roy View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Stanislav Tsoi View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Jeffrey S. Erickson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Mohamed Y. El-Naggar View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Scott Calabrese Barton View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Leonard M. Tender View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Leonard M. Tender. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Supplementary information (PDF 1682 kb) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Yates, M., Strycharz-Glaven, S., Golden, J. _et al._ Measuring

conductivity of living _Geobacter sulfurreducens_ biofilms. _Nature Nanotech_ 11, 910–913 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.186 Download citation * Published: 08 November 2016 *

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