Long-distance communication, microbial style
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - 14:40
in Earth & Climate
Scientists knew that the microbe Shewanella oneidensis transformed the electronic structure of the iron oxide it touched in the ground as well as without direct contact. Scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have now developed a model system that allows the study of this indirect transformation. They also discovered previously unseen iron(II) phosphate rosettes precipitated during bioreduction process. These blooms grew on the surface and within the grains of sand and were intensely colonized by the microbes.