A highly conductive fibre network enables centimetre-scale electron transport in multicellular cable bacteria

Filip J. R. Meysman (), Rob Cornelissen, Stanislav Trashin, Robin Bonné, Silvia Hidalgo Martinez, Jasper Veen, Carsten J. Blom, Cheryl Karman, Ji-Ling Hou, Raghavendran Thiruvallur Eachambadi, Jeanine S. Geelhoed, Karolien De Wael, Hubertus J. E. Beaumont, Bart Cleuren, Roland Valcke, Herre S. J. Zant, Henricus T. S. Boschker and Jean V. Manca
Additional contact information
Filip J. R. Meysman: University of Antwerp
Rob Cornelissen: X-LAB, Hasselt University
Stanislav Trashin: University of Antwerp
Robin Bonné: X-LAB, Hasselt University
Silvia Hidalgo Martinez: University of Antwerp
Jasper Veen: Technical University Delft
Carsten J. Blom: Delft University of Technology
Cheryl Karman: University of Antwerp
Ji-Ling Hou: X-LAB, Hasselt University
Raghavendran Thiruvallur Eachambadi: X-LAB, Hasselt University
Jeanine S. Geelhoed: University of Antwerp
Karolien De Wael: University of Antwerp
Hubertus J. E. Beaumont: Delft University of Technology
Bart Cleuren: Hasselt University
Roland Valcke: Hasselt University
Herre S. J. Zant: Technical University Delft
Henricus T. S. Boschker: University of Antwerp
Jean V. Manca: X-LAB, Hasselt University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Biological electron transport is classically thought to occur over nanometre distances, yet recent studies suggest that electrical currents can run along centimetre-long cable bacteria. The phenomenon remains elusive, however, as currents have not been directly measured, nor have the conductive structures been identified. Here we demonstrate that cable bacteria conduct electrons over centimetre distances via highly conductive fibres embedded in the cell envelope. Direct electrode measurements reveal nanoampere currents in intact filaments up to 10.1 mm long (>2000 adjacent cells). A network of parallel periplasmic fibres displays a high conductivity (up to 79 S cm−1), explaining currents measured through intact filaments. Conductance rapidly declines upon exposure to air, but remains stable under vacuum, demonstrating that charge transfer is electronic rather than ionic. Our finding of a biological structure that efficiently guides electrical currents over long distances greatly expands the paradigm of biological charge transport and could enable new bio-electronic applications.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12115-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12115-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12115-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().