Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 347, Issue 6229, Pages 1473-1476Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa4834
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- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Science Focus Area, the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research program of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research
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Microorganisms are a primary control on the redox-induced cycling of iron in the environment. Despite the ability of bacteria to grow using both Fe(II) and Fe(III) bound in solid-phase iron minerals, it is currently unknown whether changing environmental conditions enable the sharing of electrons in mixed-valent iron oxides between bacteria with different metabolisms. We show through magnetic and spectroscopic measurements that the phototrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1 oxidizes magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles using light energy. This process is reversible in co-cultures by the anaerobic Fe(III)-reducing bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. These results demonstrate that Fe ions bound in the highly crystalline mineral magnetite are bioavailable as electron sinks and electron sources under varying environmental conditions, effectively rendering magnetite a naturally occurring battery.
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