ABSTRACT
Microbial interactions are important for microbial community structure, population dynamics, and function in various anaerobic environments, such as wastewater treatment, corrosion, bioremediation, energy production, and other anaerobic environments including subseafloor sediments and rice paddy fields. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are capable of directly converting biochemical energy to electrical energy through microbial metabolism and are therefore expected to become novel energy-producing devices that can simultaneously be used for the treatment of organic wastes. MFCs are ideal model microbial ecosystems to better understand the physicochemical traits of electricity-producing microorganisms in Extracellular Electron Transfer (EET)-based anaerobic communities. Bacterial nanowires offer an EET pathway for linking the respiratory chain of bacteria to an external surface, including oxidized metals in the environment and engineered electrodes in renewable energy devices. The cell membrane of electricity-producing Shewanella loihica PV-4 is an insulator even in biofilms grown on the anode surface.
