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Electrode-Reducing Microorganisms That Harvest Energy from Marine Sediments
Daniel R. Bond,1Dawn E. Holmes,1Leonard M. Tender,2Derek R. Lovley1*
Energy in the form of electricity can be harvested from
marine sediments by placing a graphite electrode (the anode) in theanoxic zone and connecting it to a graphite cathode in the overlyingaerobic water. We report a specific enrichment of microorganismsof the family Geobacteraceae on energy-harvesting anodes, andwe show
that these microorganisms can conserve energy to supporttheir growth
by oxidizing organic compounds with an electrodeserving as the sole
electron acceptor. This finding not only providesa method for
extracting energy from organic matter, but also suggestsa strategy for
promoting the bioremediation of organic contaminantsin subsurface
environments.
1 Department of Microbiology, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
2 Center for
Bio/molecular Science and Engineering, Code 6900, Naval Research
Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
dlovley{at}microbio.umass.edu
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