Direct Exchange of Electrons Within Aggregates of an Evolved Syntrophic Coculture of Anaerobic Bacteria

Wired for Life Syntrophic bacteria live on the metabolic by-products of a partner species. The exchange of the by-products accompanies a flow of electrons in the opposite direction that helps some species grow in conditions that would otherwise be unfavorable. In mixed anaerobic cultures of two related Geobacter species, Summers et al. (p. 1413 ) observed that one species evolved to promote the transfer of electrons directly to the other, in large aggregated cell clusters, without coupling to common anaerobic by-products such as hydrogen or formate. Selection pressures in nine parallel populations all resulted in a point mutation that truncated a protein involved in the production of small hairlike projections…