Characterization of Electrogenic Gut Bacteria.

While electrogenic, or electricity-producing, Gram-negative bacteria predominantly found in anaerobic habitats have been intensively explored, the potential of Gram-positive microbial electrogenic capability residing in a similar anoxic environment has not been considered. Because Gram-positive bacteria contain a thick non-conductive cell wall, they were previously believed to be very weak exoelectrogens. However, with the recent discovery of electrogenicity by Gram-positive pathogens and elucidation of their electron-transfer pathways, significant and accelerated attention has been given to the discovery and characterization of these pathways in the members of gut microbiota.