Living power cables let bacteria respire

摘要

It is the ultimate in subsea communications: bacteria living in sulphurous mud beneath the seabed respire by transforming themselves into long, insulating cables and shuttling electrons from one to another. This phenomenon has now been imaged for the first time, allowing us to see how some microbes pull off such a feat.Some bacteria get energy by oxidising the hydrogen sulphide gas in the sediment on the ocean floor.