Exoelecrtrogens

5 billion years of life in planet --- anoxic

environment
Metabolism support --- reduction of compounds
Different types of electron acceptors
Either to diffused soluble substances or directly
through their outer membranes (MFC)
Uses of Electrochemically active biofilms
Metal oxidation reduction, mineral dissolution,
carbon cycles, complexation of phosphorus and
metals
Exoelectrogenic activites
Recent discoveries Shewnella and
Geobacter ---- genome sequences provide
information about their capabilities of
energy generation
Mechanism of electron transfer is poorly
understood


Mechanism of electron transfer
ouside the cells
Shewnella and E coli cannot produce electricity
Recent studies showed that in bioelectrochemically evolved cells
produced electric current - in air cathode MFC increased power
inputs are published but still the analysis of reseach crticised that
the purity of culture is not tested

Self Produced chemical mediators Pycocyanine
produced by pseuodomonas aerogenosa OR
Nano wires produced by Geobacter and Shewanella
Shewanella has membrane bound electron carriers
proteins periplasm, cytoplasm and outer membranes
minerals reduction

Still studies are required to find out the machanism of
colonization of bacteria, maintance of viable cells on the
surfaces, surface competition



Gorby bacterial nanowires ---Geobacter
and Shewanella
Conductivities of nano wires ---- Scanning
Tunneling Microscopy (STM)
Sample is placed on highly conductive
pyrolytic graphite surface and Pt-Ir tip is
passed over the sample with constant
imaging Conductive surface relative to
the sample



Evidence of nanowires produced by
photosynthetic microorganisms
Oxygenic cyanobacteria - C02 limited conditions, that
they can produce electricity in an MFC in the light, but not in the dark.
The Pelotomaculum
Thermopropionicum potential for interspecies
electron transfer fermentative bacteria to
methanogenes
Fermentative bacteria release electron in order
to regenerate NADH
Methanogeni / sulfate-reducing co-cultures


Reductive acetyl-coenzyme a pathway


Bacteria may accomplish electron transfer
from the surface of the cell to iron or an
anode without long nanowires (possibility)
Protrusions certainly could be conductive
points of contact
Anaerobically grown
Shewanella oneidensis adhered to an iron (goethite)
surface with two to five times greater force than aerobically grown
cells
anaerobic conditions might allow closer contact required for electron
transfer from cell bound cytochromes even in the absence of
nanowires
Potter (191 1) the yeast Saccharomyces
cerevisae and bacteria such as
Escherichia coli were shown to produce a
voltage, resulting in electricity generation
no known mediators
A variety of chemicals have been used to facilitate the
shuttling of electrons from inside the cell to electrodes outside the cell.
These exogenous mediators include, for example, neutral red,
anthraquinone-2-6,disulfonate (AQDS), thionin, potassium ferricyanide
Rabaey and coworkers demonstrated that exogenous
mediators did not have to be added to a culture -self-produced or
endogenous chemical mediators, for example pyocyanin
The production of high concentrations
of mediators by mixed cultures primarily containing P. aeruginosa,
coupled with a very low internal resistance MFC achieved by using
ferricyanide as a catholyte (instead of oxygen), produced 3.1 to 4.2 W/m2 in
MFCs
A continuous-flow system loss of mediator and its
solution
Pyocyanin compounds - exogenous electron transfer
antibiotics - respiratory inhibitors or toxins to inactivate competitors

Mediator production was long suspected to be the main
route of electron transfer for S. oneidensis
One of the main studies that supported
mediator
production by
Shewanella cells could reduce iron encapsulated within a porous
silica bead . When this bacterium is grown in electron-acceptor limited
conditions in chemostats, extrude nanowires- penetrate into the pores of
porous silica beads

Cells must be grown in the presence of
other bacteria to attain high power
densities

Gammaroteobacteria and Shewanella
SVV. Kim et al. (1 999d) demonstrated electricity
production -absence of an exogenous mediator- 0.01mW/m2 - -cyclic
voltammetry indicated of electrodes in a poised electrode MFC indicated
oxidation and reduction peaks suggesting the presence of mediators -
current generation was inactivated by oxygen, but not by nitrate
Power density of 10.2 mW/m2 , Coulombic
efficiency of 4%) using Shewanella
putrefacians and a Mn4'-graphite
electrode and air-cathode using lactate as a substrate, and 9.4 mW/m2 with
pyruvate.
Cylclic Voltametery

Little power was generated from acetate or
glucose (1.6 and 1.9 mW/m2), consistent with the observation of a
lack of substrate utilization by this microorganism.
Incorporation of mediators into the graphite electrode increased power
output by 10-fold.
The maximum power density with S. putrefacians was six-fold lower than
with a sewage sludge inoculum in the same device

A culture of Shewanella oneidensis
DSPlO was grown in a culture bottle on
lactate, then the cell suspension was fed into a small MFC (1.2 cm3)
using ferricyanide catholytes- Power production was quite large (3 W/m2,
500 W/m3), addition of mediators increased power output by 30-100%.
The Gram-negative, iron-reducing bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila was
isolated from an MFC inoculated with an unspecified source and fed acetate
facultative anaerobic bacterium produced power with yeast extract, but not
with acetate.
Electrochemical activity was observed with a medium containing Fe(III), but
it was not observed when iron was omitted, suggesting that regulation of
electrochemical activity
A. hydrophilia KCTC 2358 also showed electrochemical activity based on
cyclic voltammetry scans, suggesting that electrochemical activity might be
a general property of A. hydrophilia

Deltaproteobacteria and members of the
Geobacteracae family - The first
investigations of power generation by members of the Geobacteraceae
family (Deltaproteobacteria) were stimulated by the observation that the
majority (70%) of sequences obtained from a marine sediment MFC were
most closely related to the genus Desulfuromonas (Bond et al. 2002;
Reimers et al. 2001).
Current recovery with the air-cathode was high, with an 84% Coulombic
efficiency. The addition of an electron shuttle
(AQDS) increased power by only 24%,
suggesting that power generation was near the limit for this device.