New bacteria that lives off electricty

New microbes that eat and breathe electricity have forced scientists to re-imagine how life works on this planet and others. Groundbreaking research is currently being done by Professor Kenneth Nealson at the University of Southern California (USC) where he is growing colonies of bacteria in his laboratory. Nealson has beakers and bottles full of bacteria that busily breaking the long accepted rules of biology. Life, as Nealson explains, all comes down to energy. Every organism depends on the movement and manipulation of electrons as fuel to survive, grow, and reproduce.

The bacteria growing in Nealson’s laboratory depend on energy as well, but they obtain it in a fundamentally different technique. These bacteria power themselves in the most elemental way: by eating and breathing electricity. According to Nealson these bacteria are growing continuously on an electrode which happens to be the only source of energy present. The electrode that is present acts as an “electrically charged dinner table” and is the key to attracting this type of bacteria.  These microbes are not just new to science but require an entirely new method of collection and culture.

All conventional science methodologies would say this isn’t possible and that finding life without a molecular energy source, such as carbohydrates, is about as unlikely as “seeing passengers flying through the air without an airplane”. Until now scientists have only been examining life forms that agree with the conventional methods of attaining energy. The fact of the matter is that this discovery opens a new world in biological diversity that could really have some sizable implications. Nealson states that this bacterium is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered and is forcing us to rethink life as we know it. This bacterium could also be vital in finding new forms of life that exist outside of earth. The National Science Foundation has come to call this discovery the “dark energy biosphere” and is funding Nealson and his colleagues to learn more about this parallel microbial universe.

From a practical stand point, electric bacteria could be harnessed to create new types of biological fuel cells that can clean up human waste. Nealson states that one of his students has already received a grant to build a bacteria-powered sewage system that utilizes this biological discovery. This would be done by sticking an electrical anode in human waste where it would then attract communities of bacteria that eat feces and breathe electrons. By hooking the electrical anode up to a fuel cell you would have a self-powered wastewater treatment system that produces significantly less sludge then current systems. These systems could be greatly utilized in third world countries where people could bring their sewage to the treatment plant and get clean water without the need for outside power. Other theories claim these biological microbes could comprise of a vast, largely unexplored realm of life on this planet and planets beyond ours too. Nealson has already begun to work with NASA to utilize this discovery by installing electronic probes on Mars landers that can test the subsurface for electric bacteria and signs of extraterrestrial life. By looking for electric gradients on a planet’s surface we can find possible locations of biological activity. This discovery could be the future of how we look for new life on and outside of our planet.