Living Electrical Power Cables Found at The Bottom of Sea

Living electrical wires made of bacteria have been found on the seabed. Multicellular microbes that have a centimeter long and a hundred times thinner than a human hair.

This shows cable bacteria in
 the mud of the sea bottom. 
 (Picture from: http://phys.org/)

Each bacterial functions such as power cables with insulated wires, like wires that carry power to the lights and electrical appliances. Scientists believe they are the source of a mysterious electrical currents on the sea floor that was first identified nearly three years ago.

Bacteria cable from Desulfobulbaceae family, it generates electricity by consuming oxygen from seawater. Electricity is used in the process of releasing energy from sulfur in the mud on the sea floor.

The researchers theorize that the adaptation gives the bacterium a distinct advantage over other oceanic microbes. Collectively, when they sit in an undisturbed seabed, they extend tens of thousands of kilometers of cable within a single square meter (10.76 square feet). Their ability to conduct a current allows them to pull in vast amounts of energy that's put out through seabed decomposition.

A small cavity in the seabed reveals a number of cable bacteria that conducts electric currents between the red surface and the deep, black, anaerobic sediment layers of the seabed. (Picture from: http://phys.org/)

And in fact, a single teaspoon of mud can contain as much of one kilometer of living electric cables, according to the researchers in a report published in the journal Nature. Single cell bacteria that produce energy by connecting the reservoir of oxygen in the surface mud with hydrogen sulfide far below.

Another unique characteristic of the bacteria is that it can maintain efficient combustion in the oxygen-free part of the seabed. It does this by forming a chain where one individual bacterium extends out into the oxygen-rich area of the seawater; all that's required is a few millimeters. When the combustion happens, there is a transfer of the electrons of the food to oxygen. The bacteria manage this transfer over a distance of about a centimeter. And like any electric cable, any disturbance can lead to a fatal breakage — and an end to the current.

The discovery of bacteria cord was led by Dr. Nils Risgaard-Petersen, of Aarhus University in Denmark. "The idea is remarkable that these bacteria are live electrical wires really evident when we see the rope like wire enclosed by a membrane in bacteria," he said.

The discovery could lead to the creation of a medical device that mimics the electron transmission and use bacteria to clean up contaminated areas. "The power cord of life adds a new dimension to understanding the interactions in nature and may be useful in the development of technology," said Dr. Risgaard-Petersen.

Professor Gemma Reguera, a microbiologist at Michigan State University, who carried out an assessment of the research for the writing of the journal, said that the idea will be met with skepticism in some years ago. "No one will believe it when you stated that microbes could serve as a power cable to transmit electricity across a distance of a few centimeters," he said.

He said the report adds to evidence that highlights the important role of electron transfer microbes in global geochemical processes and ecosystem function. "It's very exciting for a microbiologist, and this work reminds us that so many await discovery." *** [DAILYMAIL | PHYSORG | ERWIN Z | KORAN TEMPO 4041]

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