Comments on: Bacteria use electric wires to shock uranium out of groundwater

By: Frans Wilson

Frans Wilson — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:05:01 +0000

Most of the comments on this article are those of what I call “wize asses”. Trying to prove they know something. To the author. Well done ! !. I have done a lot of work on this and found many species of microorganisms with the ability of Uranium and other elemental degradation.

By: Marc Abian

Marc Abian — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:59:06 +0000

@John Weiss

Bacteria are communicating frequently. The secrete molecules into the environment around them and the concentration of those molecules tells the bacteria how many of them there are. Hence, this is known as quorum sensing (which would be the term you should google to find out more). There’s lots of these molecules, and different bacteria can sense and synthesise different types.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:25:50 +0000

Paul, yes, Dr. Derek Lovely has developed a system like that: http://www.physorg.com/news194022765.html

By: Chris Lindsay

Chris Lindsay — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:16:26 +0000

Whoops, sorry Ed. My mistake.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:36:08 +0000

So, any chance these bacteria can attach their “wires” to an electrode and get their energy from an external source? I’m imagining a bioelectrochemical cell that takes simple chemicals and electricity in and spits out valuable biomolecules. How about an implantable device that (with external power) synthesizes nutrients?

By: Jeff Gralnick

Jeff Gralnick — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:43:22 +0000

It’s an interesting correlation between pili and U reduction. However, lacking pili may also change other properties outside the cell. We know from work in Shewanella (Ed you forgot the ‘w’!) that cytochromes (proteins that contain heme cofactors) are involved. It’s an exciting observation though – hope to see more soon!

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:30:58 +0000

@Rosie – Actually, checking my source, it says that the pili networks can channel electrons over centimetre distances rather than that the pili themselves are cm-long. Going to change that.

By: DennyMo

DennyMo — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:53:42 +0000

So what do you think about the possibility of Hortas in the Geobacter’s evolutionary future?

By: John Weiss

John Weiss — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:02:47 +0000

This is astonishing.

Bacteria communicating between (among?) species? I knew that bacteria were rather promiscuous about sharing genes, which is remarkable, but this?!

Geeze. What is this wonderful place? Maybe it’s heaven.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:39:12 +0000

The reference at the bottom is a clue Also the caption to the photo on the page Chris linked to…