Indications for a genetic basis for big bacteria and description of the giant cable bacterium Electrothrix gigas sp. nov.

Bacterial cells can vary greatly in size, from a few hundred nanometers to hundreds of micrometers in diameter. Filamentous cable bacteria also display substantial size differences, with filament diameters ranging from 0.4 to 8 µm.

Cable bacteria with electric connection to oxygen attract flocks of diverse bacteria.

Cable bacteria are centimeter-long filamentous bacteria that conduct electrons via internal wires, thus coupling sulfide oxidation in deeper, anoxic sediment with oxygen reduction in surface sediment. This activity induces geochemical changes in the sediment, and other bacterial groups appear to benefit from the electrical connection to oxygen. Here, we report that diverse bacteria swim in a tight flock around the anoxic part of oxygen-respiring cable bacteria and disperse immediately when the connection to oxygen is disrupted (by cutting the cable bacteria with a laser).

How to grow your cable bacteria: Establishment of a stable single-strain culture in sediment and proposal of Candidatus Electronema aureum GS.

Cable bacteria are multicellular filamentous bacteria within the Desulfobulbaceae that couple the oxidation of sulfide to the reduction of oxygen over centimeter distances via long distance electron transport (LDET). So far, none of the freshwater or marine cable bacteria species have been isolated into pure culture. Here we describe a method for establishing a stable single-strain cable bacterium culture in partially sterilized sediment.

Dissimilatory nitrate reduction by a freshwater cable bacterium.

Cable bacteria (CB) are filamentous Desulfobulbaceae that split the energy-conserving reaction of sulfide oxidation into two half reactions occurring in distinct cells. CB can use nitrate, but the reduction pathway is unknown, making it difficult to assess their direct impact on the N-cycle. Here we show that the freshwater cable bacterium Ca.

On the evolution and physiology of cable bacteria.

Cable bacteria of the family Desulfobulbaceae form centimeter-long filaments comprising thousands of cells. They occur worldwide in the surface of aquatic sediments, where they connect sulfide oxidation with oxygen or nitrate reduction via long-distance electron transport. In the absence of pure cultures, we used single-filament genomics and metagenomics to retrieve draft genomes of 3 marine Electrothrix and 1 freshwater Electronema species.

Disguised as a Sulfate Reducer: Growth of the Deltaproteobacterium by Sulfide Oxidation with Nitrate.

This study demonstrates that the deltaproteobacterium can grow chemolithotrophically by coupling sulfide oxidation to the dissimilatory reduction of nitrate and nitrite to ammonium. Key genes of known sulfide oxidation pathways are absent from the genome of Instead, the genome contains all of the genes necessary for sulfate reduction, including a gene for a reductive-type dissimilatory bisulfite reductase (DSR). Despite this, growth by sulfate reduction was not observed.