The Electric Microbe

Revista Time (The Best Inventions)

Bacteria have always gotten a bad rap. But we should be thankful for one especially talented microbe, Geobacter, which has tiny hairlike extensions called pili that it uses to generate electricity from mud and wastewater. Professor Derek Lovley and his team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have engineered a strain of Geobacter that's eight times as efficient as other strains at producing power. The next step: creating Geobacter-based fuel cells that can generate cheap, clean electricity.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933965,00.html

NATURE REVIEWS - MICROBIOLOGY

In situ to in silico and back: elucidating  the physiology and ecology of Geobacter spp. using genome-scale modelling.

Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, Bernhard Ø. Palsson and Derek R. Lovley

There is a wide diversity of unexploredmetabolismencoded in the genomes of  microorganisms that have an important environmentalrole.Genome-scalemetabolic  modelling enablesthe individualreactionsthat are encoded in annotated genomesto be organized into a coherent whole, which can then be used to predictmetabolic fluxesthat will  optimize cell function under a range of conditions. In this Review, we summarize a series of studiesin which genome-scalemetabolicmodelling ofGeobacterspp. hasresulted in an in-depth understanding oftheir centralmetabolismand ecology.Asimilariterative modelling and experimental approach could accelerate elucidation ofthe physiology and ecology of othermicroorganismsinhabiting a diversity of environments, and could guide optimization ofthe practical applications ofthese species.
Acceso a review: http://www.geobacter.org/publication-files/Nature%20Reviews%20Microbiology%202011.pdf

Metal-like microbial nanowires

Physicstoday (August 22, 2011). Protein filaments made by some bacteria may bridge the gap between solid-state electronics and biological systems.

http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/physics_update/metal-like_microbial_nanowires

Using Microbes to Generate Electricity

ScienceDaily (May 23, 2011) — Using bacteria to generate energy is a significant step closer following a breakthrough discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110523152337.htm