Scientists stumbled across the first known manganese-fueled bacteria
Scientists have discovered the first bacteria known to use the metal manganese to grow. And the researchers had to look only as far as the office sink. “It’s definitely an interesting story about serendipity,” says Jared Leadbetter, an environmental microbiologist at Caltech. He and Hang Yu, also an environmental microbiologist at Caltech, report their fortuitous find in the July 16 Nature. Leadbetter had been working with a pink compound called manganese carbonate in a glass jar. After having trouble cleaning the jar, he filled it with tap water and left it to soak. When he returned 10 weeks later, after an out-of-town teaching stint, the contents of the jar had transformed into a dark, crusty material. Leadbetter knew that scientists had long suspected that bacteria could use manganese to fuel growth. Over a century ago, researchers discovered that bacteria could borrow electrons from chemical elements like nitrogen, sulfur, iron — and manganese. In...