Cable bacteria: widespread filamentous electroactive microorganisms protecting environments

Meijun Dong; Lars Peter Nielsen; Shan Yang; Lasse Hyldgaard Klausen; Meiying Xu

doi:10.1016/j.tim.2023.12.001

Cable bacteria: widespread filamentous electroactive microorganisms protecting environments

Trends Microbiol. 2023 Dec 26:S0966-842X(23)00336-0. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2023.12.001. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Meijun Dong¹, Lars Peter Nielsen², Shan Yang¹, Lasse Hyldgaard Klausen³, Meiying Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510070, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection Microbiology and Regional Ecological Security, Guangzhou 510070, Guangdong, China.
² Center for Electromicrobiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
³ Center for Electromicrobiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510070, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection Microbiology and Regional Ecological Security, Guangzhou 510070, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: xumy@gdim.cn.

PMID: 38151387
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2023.12.001

Abstract

Cable bacteria have been identified and detected worldwide since their discovery in marine sediments in Aarhus Bay, Denmark. Their activity can account for the majority of oxygen consumption and sulfide depletion in sediments, and they induce sulfate accumulation, pH excursions, and the generation of electric fields. In addition, they can affect the fluxes of other elements such as calcium, iron, manganese, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Recent developments in our understanding of the impact of cable bacteria on element cycling have revealed their positive contributions to mitigating environmental problems, such as recovering self-purification capacity, enhancing petroleum hydrocarbon degradation, alleviating phosphorus eutrophication, delaying euxinia, and reducing methane emission. We highlight recent research outcomes on their distribution, state-of-the-art findings on their physiological characteristics, and ecological contributions.

Keywords: cable bacteria; distribution; diversity; ecological functions; environmental factors; practical applications.

Publication types

Review