Even bacteria need vitamins.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have learned that riboflavin is the secret ingredient that makes shewanella bacteria capable of converting compounds such as lactic acid into electricity.
Riboflavin is also known as vitamin B-2.
“Scientists have known for years that shewanella produce electricity,” said study co-author Daniel Bond, a microbiologist at University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute. “Now we know how they do it.”
Shewanella use the electricity they generate to get access to metals such as iron.
The scientists demonstrated that the bacteria grown on electrodes naturally produced riboflavin to carry the electrons from the cells to the metal tips.
As the vitamin’s levels increased in the bacteria, the electricity generated nearly quadrupled. When the riboflavin was removed from the bacteria, electron transfer decreased by over 70 percent.
The results suggest that shewanella or other electricity-generating bacteria could be used to power microbial fuel cells. These cells, in turn, could clean up wastewater in a treatment facility, or even run remote ocean floor sensors.
“Bacteria have been changing the chemistry of the environment for billions of years,” said Jeffrey Gralnick, Bond’s colleague and study co-author. “Their ability to make iron soluble is key to metal cycling in the environment and essential to most life on earth.”
Bond and Gralnick caution, however, that more research is needed before considering larger-scale applications for microbial fuel cells such as powering vehicles or homes.
The researchers received funding for their work from the U.S. Navy to study the process of reversing metal corrosion on ships.
The study was published in the the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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