Publication
Title
A model analysis of centimeter-long electron transport in cable bacteria
Author
Abstract
The recent discovery of cable bacteria has greatly expanded the known length scale of biological electron transport, as these multi-cellular bacteria are capable of mediating electrical currents across centimeter-scale distances. To enable such long-range conduction, cable bacteria embed a network of regularly spaced, parallel protein fibers in their cell envelope. These fibers exhibit extraordinary electrical properties for a biological material, including an electrical conductivity that can exceed 100 S cm(-1). Traditionally, long-range electron transport through proteins is described as a multi-step hopping process, in which the individual hopping steps are described by Marcus electron transport theory. Here, we investigate to what extent such a classical hopping model can explain the conductance data recorded for individual cable bacterium filaments. To this end, the conductive fiber network in cable bacteria is modelled as a set of parallel one-dimensional hopping chains. Comparison of model simulated and experimental current(I)/voltage(V) curves, reveals that the charge transport is field-driven rather than concentration-driven, and there is no significant injection barrier between electrodes and filaments. However, the observed high conductivity levels (>100 S cm(-1)) can only be reproduced, if we include much longer hopping distances (a > 10 nm) and lower reorganisation energies (lambda < 0.2 eV) than conventionally used in electron relay models of protein structures. Overall, our model analysis suggests that the conduction mechanism in cable bacteria is markedly distinct from other known forms of long-range biological electron transport, such as in multi-heme cytochromes.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Physical chemistry, chemical physics / Royal Society of Chemistry [London] - Cambridge, 1999, currens
Publication
Cambridge : The Royal Society of Chemistry , 2024
ISSN
1463-9076 [print]
1463-9084 [online]
DOI
10.1039/D3CP04466A
Volume/pages
26 :4 (2024) , p. 3139-3151
ISI
001142855100001
Pubmed ID
38189548
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Highly conductive protein fibers as a radically new technological material.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 01.02.2024
Last edited 25.05.2024
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