Long-range correlated electron transport in M-DNA

2016 ◽  
Vol 478 ◽  
pp. 45-47
Author(s):  
Aleš Omerzu ◽  
Miloš Borovšak
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henricus T. S. Boschker ◽  
Perran L. M. Cook ◽  
Lubos Polerecky ◽  
Raghavendran Thiruvallur Eachambadi ◽  
Helena Lozano ◽  
...  

AbstractFilamentous cable bacteria display long-range electron transport, generating electrical currents over centimeter distances through a highly ordered network of fibers embedded in their cell envelope. The conductivity of these periplasmic wires is exceptionally high for a biological material, but their chemical structure and underlying electron transport mechanism remain unresolved. Here, we combine high-resolution microscopy, spectroscopy, and chemical imaging on individual cable bacterium filaments to demonstrate that the periplasmic wires consist of a conductive protein core surrounded by an insulating protein shell layer. The core proteins contain a sulfur-ligated nickel cofactor, and conductivity decreases when nickel is oxidized or selectively removed. The involvement of nickel as the active metal in biological conduction is remarkable, and suggests a hitherto unknown form of electron transport that enables efficient conduction in centimeter-long protein structures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 202 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek R. Lovley ◽  
Dawn E. Holmes

ABSTRACT Electrically conductive protein nanowires appear to be widespread in the microbial world and are a revolutionary “green” material for the fabrication of electronic devices. Electrically conductive pili (e-pili) assembled from type IV pilin monomers have independently evolved multiple times in microbial history as have electrically conductive archaella (e-archaella) assembled from homologous archaellin monomers. A role for e-pili in long-range (micrometer) extracellular electron transport has been demonstrated in some microbes. The surprising finding of e-pili in syntrophic bacteria and the role of e-pili as conduits for direct interspecies electron transfer have necessitated a reassessment of routes for electron flux in important methanogenic environments, such as anaerobic digesters and terrestrial wetlands. Pilin monomers similar to those found in e-pili may also be a major building block of the conductive “cables” that transport electrons over centimeter distances through continuous filaments of cable bacteria consisting of a thousand cells or more. Protein nanowires harvested from microbes have many functional and sustainability advantages over traditional nanowire materials and have already yielded novel electronic devices for sustainable electricity production, neuromorphic memory, and sensing. e-pili can be mass produced with an Escherichia coli chassis, providing a ready source of material for electronics as well as for studies on the basic mechanisms for long-range electron transport along protein nanowires. Continued exploration is required to better understand the electrification of microbial communities with microbial nanowires and to expand the “green toolbox” of sustainable materials for wiring and powering the emerging “Internet of things.”


1993 ◽  
Vol 07 (01n03) ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. STEGLICH ◽  
C. GEIBEL ◽  
A. LOIDL ◽  
G. SPARN ◽  
C. D. BREDL ◽  
...  

Heavy-fermion compounds are ideally suited to study cooperative phenomena in highly correlated electron systems. We discuss local-moment magnetism and heavy-fermion band magnetism in the exemplary systems CeCu 2 Ge 2 and Ni-rich Ce(Cu 1− x Ni x )2 Ge 2, respectively. In addition, the coexistence of long-range antiferromagnetic order and heavy-fermion superconductivity in UM 2 Al 3 (M: Ni, Pd) will be addressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (26) ◽  
pp. 15354-15362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricarda Höhner ◽  
Mathias Pribil ◽  
Miroslava Herbstová ◽  
Laura Susanna Lopez ◽  
Hans-Henning Kunz ◽  
...  

In photosynthetic electron transport, large multiprotein complexes are connected by small diffusible electron carriers, the mobility of which is challenged by macromolecular crowding. For thylakoid membranes of higher plants, a long-standing question has been which of the two mobile electron carriers, plastoquinone or plastocyanin, mediates electron transport from stacked grana thylakoids where photosystem II (PSII) is localized to distant unstacked regions of the thylakoids that harbor PSI. Here, we confirm that plastocyanin is the long-range electron carrier by employing mutants with different grana diameters. Furthermore, our results explain why higher plants have a narrow range of grana diameters since a larger diffusion distance for plastocyanin would jeopardize the efficiency of electron transport. In the light of recent findings that the lumen of thylakoids, which forms the diffusion space of plastocyanin, undergoes dynamic swelling/shrinkage, this study demonstrates that plastocyanin diffusion is a crucial regulatory element of plant photosynthetic electron transport.


2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. Brizhik ◽  
J. Luo ◽  
B. M. A. G. Piette ◽  
W. J. Zakrzewski

1988 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 2692-2699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalyan Kundu ◽  
Dora Izzo ◽  
Philip Phillips

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-459
Author(s):  
Y.P. Lee ◽  
K.W. Kim ◽  
J.Y. Rhee ◽  
Y.V. Kudryavtsev ◽  
V.V. Nemoshkalenko ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (07n08) ◽  
pp. 709-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun-Qing Shen

Theory of spin-reflection positivity developed in recent years is reviewed. This theory makes use of symmetries in an electron system and theory of matrix to investigate the ground state properties. Existences of anti- and ferromagnetic long-range orders in itinerant electron systems, and of off-diagonal long-range order are two successful applications of the theory. In this article, the author attempt to summarize exact results proved by utilizing this theory and related topics. First a general theory and basic theorems are introduced. Second, based on the band structures of conduction electrons, existences of a singlet state with strongly antiferromagnetic correlation, a state with both anti- and ferromagnetic long-range orders, and a fully saturated ferromagnetic state are proved. The theory is applied to several of the main theoretical models for strongly correlated electron systems, such as the Heisenberg model, the Hubbard model, the Anderson model, the single- and multichannel Kondo model, and the generalized Hubbard model, and a series of rigorous results are found in these models. Third, it is proved that off-diagonal long-range order and charge-density wave exist in the ground states of the attractive Hubbard model and the generalized Hubbard model. A relation between pseudospin symmetry and the uniform density theorem is introduced. Fourth, the theory is applied successfully to explain experimental observations of oscillatory interlayer magnetic coupling in ultrathin magnetic films. Finally several unsolved problems are discussed. All results introduced in this article are mathematically exact.


mBio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Vargas ◽  
Nikhil S. Malvankar ◽  
Pier-Luc Tremblay ◽  
Ching Leang ◽  
Jessica A. Smith ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIt has been proposed thatGeobacter sulfurreducensrequires conductive pili for long-range electron transport to Fe(III) oxides and for high-density current production in microbial fuel cells. In order to investigate this further, we constructed a strain ofG. sulfurreducens, designated Aro-5, which produced pili with diminished conductivity. This was accomplished by modifying the amino acid sequence of PilA, the structural pilin protein. An alanine was substituted for each of the five aromatic amino acids in the carboxyl terminus of PilA, the region in whichG. sulfurreducensPilA differs most significantly from the PilAs of microorganisms incapable of long-range extracellular electron transport. Strain Aro-5 produced pili that were properly decorated with the multihemec-type cytochrome OmcS, which is essential for Fe(III) oxide reduction. However, pili preparations of the Aro-5 strain had greatly diminished conductivity and Aro-5 cultures were severely limited in their capacity to reduce Fe(III) compared to the control strain. Current production of the Aro-5 strain, with a graphite anode serving as the electron acceptor, was less than 10% of that of the control strain. The conductivity of the Aro-5 biofilms was 10-fold lower than the control strain’s. These results demonstrate that the pili ofG. sulfurreducensmust be conductive in order for the cells to be effective in extracellular long-range electron transport.IMPORTANCEExtracellular electron transfer byGeobacterspecies plays an important role in the biogeochemistry of soils and sediments and has a number of bioenergy applications. For example, microbial reduction of Fe(III) oxide is one of the most geochemically significant processes in anaerobic soils, aquatic sediments, and aquifers, andGeobacterorganisms are often abundant in such environments.Geobacter sulfurreducensproduces the highest current densities of any known pure culture, and close relatives are often the most abundant organisms colonizing anodes in microbial fuel cells that harvest electricity from wastewater or aquatic sediments. The finding that a strain ofG. sulfurreducensthat produces pili with low conductivity is limited in these extracellular electron transport functions provides further insight into these environmentally significant processes.


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