Enrichment of electrode-respiring microorganisms derived from marine environments and their functional analyses

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H07492
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Biofunction/Bioprocess
• Research Institution: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: KASHIMA Hiroyuki 国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 深海・地殻内生物圏研究分野, ポストドクトラル研究員 (70780914)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 微生物電気化学 / 細胞外電子伝達 / 電極呼吸 / 鉄酸化細菌

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study intended to survey novel electrosynthetic microorganisms that extracellularly uptake electrons from poised electrodes in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), and to understand their cellular functions. Cathodic BES reactor operations targeted to obtain novel electrosynthetic microbial communities with inoculums derived from marine hydrothermal environments did not resulted in solid enrichment of microorganisms capable of cathodic electron uptake due to low biomass growth. On the other hand, this study developed a method incorporating microscopic cellular metabolic activity imaging techniques to examine cells colonized on electrodes. As a result of screening tests examined metal reducing/oxidizing bacterial isolates with the developed method, electrotrophic activity was revealed in an iron-oxidizing isolate derived from a deep-sea hydrothermal field.

Free Research Field

工 学 (生 物 機 能・バ イ オ プ ロ セ ス）