Malvankar Lab identifies highly conductive protein nanowire produced by bacteria

brainstorming cells
September 2, 2020

In their recent publication in Nature Chemical Biology, the Malvankar Lab describes a previously unknown protein nanowire that is produced by Geobacter sulfurreducens. They found that Geobacter biofilms produced this nanowire upon stimulation with an electric field. The nanowire produced in these conditions was 1,000 times more conductive than a previously described Geobacter nanowire that is produced in the absence of an electric field. Bacteria-produced nanowires could help develop living biological electronic systems. The study was led by first author Sibel Ebru Yalcin, Ph.D., and was done in collaboration with the Batista Lab in the Chemistry Department at Yale.

Link to journal article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-020-0623-9.epdf

Read the ‘Behind the Paper’ story on Nature Bioengineering Community here: https://bioengineeringcommunity.nature.com/posts/shock-to-bacteria-activates-nature-s-electrical-grid?channel_id=541-behind-the-paper

Yale News press release: https://news.yale.edu/2020/08/17/shock-bacteria-activates-natures-electrical-grid

By Melanie Reschke