Long-distance electron transport occurs globally in marine sediments

Burdorf, Laurine D. W.; Tramper, Anton; Seitaj, Dorina; Meire, Lorenz; Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia; Zetsche, Eva-Maria; Boschker, Henricus T. S.; Meysman, Filip J. R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-683-2017

Articles | Volume 14, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-683-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-683-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 3

Research article

|

10 Feb 2017

Research article |

| 10 Feb 2017

Long-distance electron transport occurs globally in marine sediments

Laurine D. W. Burdorf, Anton Tramper, Dorina Seitaj, Lorenz Meire, Silvia Hidalgo-Martinez, Eva-Maria Zetsche, Henricus T. S. Boschker, and Filip J. R. Meysman

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-683-2017-supplement

Data sets

High resolution field porewater profiles (pH, H2S, O2) with cable bacteria activity in the Netherlands L. D. W. Burdorf, A. Tramper, and F. J. R. Meysman https://doi.org/10.14284/269

Laboratory timeseries of high resolution porewater profiles (pH, H2S, O2) demonstrating cable bacteria growth L. D. W. Burdorf, D. Seitaj, L. Meire, and F. J. R. Meysman https://doi.org/10.14284/270

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Short summary

Recently, long filamentous bacteria have been reported to conduct electrons over centimetre distances in marine sediments. These so-called cable bacteria have an electricity-based metabolism, effectively turning the seafloor into a natural battery. In this study we demonstrate a global occurrence of these cable bacteria in marine sediments, spanning a large range of climate zones (off Greenland, the USA, Australia, the Netherlands) and a large range of coastal habitats.