Cable bacteria

Cable bacteria in between two layers of sediment split apart inside a glass cylinder.

Cable bacteria are filamentous bacteria that conduct electricity across distances over 1 cm in sediment and groundwater aquifers. Cable bacteria allow for long-distance electron transport, which connects electron donors to electron acceptors, connecting previously separated oxidation and reduction reactions. Cable bacteria couple the reduction of oxygen or nitrate at the sediment's surface to the oxidation of sulfide in the deeper, anoxic, sediment layers.

Diagram demonstrating cable bacteria metabolism in surface sediment. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is oxidized in the sulfidic sediment layer, and the resulting electrons (e−) are conducted up through the cable bacteria filament to the oxic layer and used to reduce molecular oxygen (O2).
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