Generation of High Current Densities in Geobacter sulfurreducens Lacking the Putative Gene for the PilB Pilus Assembly Motor
Toshiyuki Ueki, David J. F. Walker, Kelly P. Nevin, Joy E. Ward, Trevor L. Woodard, Stephen S. Nonnenmann, Derek R. Lovley
Abstract
Geobacter sulfurreducens is a model microbe for the study of biogeochemically and technologically significant processes, such as the reduction of Fe(III) oxides in soils and sediments, bioelectrochemical applications that produce electric current from waste organic matter or drive useful processes with the consumption of renewable electricity, direct interspecies electron transfer in anaerobic digestors and methanogenic soils and sediments, and metal corrosion. Elucidating the phenotypes associated with gene deletions is an important strategy for determining the mechanisms for extracellular electron transfer in G. sulfurreducens. The results reported here demonstrate that we cannot replicate the key phenotype reported for a gene deletion that has been central to the development of models for long-range electron transport in G. sulfurreducens.