User:Quinnborchert/Bacterial nanowires

Biological implications
Biologically, the extent of the implications brought on by the existence of bacterial nanowires is not fully realized. Predictions exist in the microbiological field, but few definitive conclusions have been made. It has been speculated nanowires may function as conduits for electron transport between different members of a microbial community. This has potential to allow for regulatory feedback or other communication between members of the same or even different microbial species. Microorganisms could potentially use nanowires to facilitate the use of extracellular metals as terminal electron acceptors in an electron transport chain. The high reduction potential of the metals receiving electrons could drive a considerable ATP production. Some organisms are capable of both expelling and taking in electrons through nanowires. Those species could potentially oxidize extracellular metals by using them as an electron or energy source to facilitate energy consuming cellular processes. Microbes also could potentially be using nanowires to temporarily store electrons on metals. Building up an electron concentration on a metal anode of sorts would create a battery of sorts that the cells could later use to fuel metabolic activity. While these potential implications provide a reasonable hypothesis towards the role of the bacterial nanowire in a biological system, more research is needed to fully understand the extent of how cellular species benefit from nanowire use.

History
The concept of electromicrobiology has been around since the early 1900s when a series of discoveries found cells capable of producing electricity. It was demonstrated for the first time in 1911 by Michael Cressé Potter that cells could convert chemical energy to electrical energy. It wasn't until 1988 that extracellular electron transport (EET) was observed for the first time with the independent discoveries of Geobacter and Shewanella bacteria and their respective nanowires. Since their discoveries, other nanowire containing microbes have been identified, but they remain the most intensively studied. In 1998, EET was observed in a microbial fuel cell setting for the first time using Shewanella bacteria to reduce an Fe(III) electrode. In 2010, bacterial nanowires were shown to have facilitated the flow of electricity into Sporomusa bacteria. This was the first observed instance of EET used to draw electrons from the environment into a cell. Research persists to date to explore the mechanisms, implications, and potential applications of nanowires and the biological systems they are a part of.