Cable bacteria have a strange and intriguing metabolism, where different cells cooperate via electrical currents to ensure the energy supply of the multicellular organism. We want to understand know how this “electrical metabolism” functions.
Research questions
- What metabolic pathways are cable bacteria capable of?
- How is the mechanism of long distance electron transport coupled to energy conservation?
- How do cells interact with each other within a given multicellular filament?
- How do cable bacteria grow and survive?
The Microbial Electricity research team performs laboratory experiments, where cable bacteria are enriched and cultivated under controlled conditions, often in combination with isotope labeling. To elucidate the metabolism, we combine a portfolio of methods, including advanced microscopy (SEM, TEM, AFM), electrochemistry (Voltammetry), spectroscopy (Raman, IR), and chemical imaging (TOF-SIMS, nanoSIMS), as well as techniques from molecular microbiology (e.g. genomics).