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A model analysis of centimeter-long electron transport in cable bacteria

van der Veen, J.R. (author), Valianti, S. (author), van der Zant, H.S.J. (author), Blanter, Y.M. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

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...

journal article 2024

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Electrogenic sulfur oxidation by cable bacteria in two seasonally hypoxic coastal systems

Burdorf, Laurine D.W. (author), Cook, Perran L.M. (author), Robertson, Elizabeth K. (author), Tramper, Anton (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Vasquez-Cardenas, Diana (author), Malkin, Sairah Y. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Cable bacteria can reach high densities in coastal sediments, and as a result of their unusual electrogenic lifestyle and intense metabolic activity, exert a major and distinct impact on biogeochemical cycling, both locally in sediments and at the ecosystem level. This appears to be particularly true for seasonally hypoxic systems, but the...

journal article 2024

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Closing the genome of unculturable cable bacteria using a combined metagenomic assembly of long and short sequencing reads

Hiralal, Anwar (author), Geelhoed, Jeanine S. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Smets, Bent (author), van Dijk, Jesper R. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Many environmentally relevant micro-organisms cannot be cultured, and even with the latest metagenomic approaches, achieving complete genomes for specific target organisms of interest remains a challenge. Cable bacteria provide a prominent example of a microbial ecosystem engineer that is currently unculturable. They occur in low abundance in...

journal article 2024

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Multi-wavelength Raman microscopy of nickel-based electron transport in cable bacteria

Smets, Bent (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Wetherington, Maxwell T. (author), Lelong, Gérald (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Polerecky, Lubos (author), Nuyts, Gert (author), De Wael, Karolien (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Cable bacteria embed a network of conductive protein fibers in their cell envelope that efficiently guides electron transport over distances spanning up to several centimeters. This form of long-distance electron transport is unique in biology and is mediated by a metalloprotein with a sulfur-coordinated nickel (Ni) cofactor. However, the...

journal article 2024

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The organo-metal-like nature of long-range conduction in cable bacteria

Pankratov, Dmitrii (author), Hidalgo Martinez, Silvia (author), Karman, Cheryl (author), Gerzhik, Anastasia (author), Gomila, Gabriel (author), Trashin, Stanislav (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Geelhoed, Jeanine S. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Cable bacteria are filamentous, multicellular microorganisms that display an exceptional form of biological electron transport across centimeter-scale distances. Currents are guided through a network of nickel-containing protein fibers within the cell envelope. Still, the mechanism of long-range conduction remains unresolved. Here, we...

journal article 2024

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Cable bacteria delay euxinia and modulate phosphorus release in coastal hypoxic systems

Burdorf, Laurine D.W. (author), van de Velde, Sebastiaan J. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Cable bacteria are long, filamentous bacteria with a unique metabolism involving centimetre-scale electron transport. They are widespread in the sediment of seasonally hypoxic systems and their metabolic activity stimulates the dissolution of iron sulfides (FeS), releasing large quantities of ferrous iron (Fe²⁺) into the pore water...

journal article 2024

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Enhanced olivine dissolution in seawater through continuous grain collisions

Flipkens, Gunter (author), Fuhr, Michael (author), Fiers, Géraldine (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Town, Raewyn M. (author), Blust, Ronny (author)

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies at a gigaton scale need to be developed and implemented within the next decades to keep global warming below 1.5 °C. Coastal enhanced silicate weathering is one of the proposed CDR techniques that aims to accelerate the natural process of CO₂-sequestration during marine chemical weathering...

journal article 2023

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Indications for a genetic basis for big bacteria and description of the giant cable bacterium Candidatus Electrothrix gigas sp. nov.

Geelhoed, Jeanine S. (author), Thorup, Casper A. (author), Bjerg, Jesper J. (author), Schreiber, Lars (author), Nielsen, Lars Peter (author), Schramm, Andreas (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Marshall, Ian P.G. (author)

Bacterial cells can vary greatly in size, from a few hundred nanometers to hundreds of micrometers in diameter. Filamentous cable bacteria also display substantial size differences, with filament diameters ranging from 0.4 to 8 µm. We analyzed the genomes of cable bacterium filaments from 11 coastal environments of which the resulting 23 new...

journal article 2023

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Cable Bacteria Activity Modulates Arsenic Release From Sediments in a Seasonally Hypoxic Marine Basin

van de Velde, Sebastiaan J. (author), Burdorf, Laurine D.W. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Leermakers, Martine (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Eutrophication and global change are increasing the occurrence of seasonal hypoxia (bottom-water oxygen concentration <63 μM) in coastal systems worldwide. In extreme cases, the bottom water can become completely anoxic, allowing sulfide to escape from the sediments and leading to the development of bottom-water euxinia. In seasonally...

journal article 2022

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Polyphosphate Dynamics in Cable Bacteria

Geerlings, Nicole M.J. (author), Kienhuis, Michiel V.M. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Hageman, R. (author), Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Middelburg, Jack J. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Polerecky, Lubos (author)

Cable bacteria are multicellular sulfide oxidizing bacteria that display a unique metabolism based on long-distance electron transport. Cells in deeper sediment layers perform the sulfide oxidizing half-reaction whereas cells in the surface layers of the sediment perform the oxygen-reducing half-reaction. These half-reactions are coupled via...

journal article 2022

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Biogeochemical impacts of fish farming on coastal sediments: Insights into the functional role of cable bacteria

Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Hulst, Lucas (author), Thorleifsdottir, Thorgerdur (author), Helgason, Gudmundur Vidir (author), Eiriksson, Thorleifur (author), Geelhoed, Jeanine S. (author), Agustsson, Thorleifur (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Fish farming in sea cages is a growing component of the global food industry. A prominent ecosystem impact of this industry is the increase in the downward flux of organic matter, which stimulates anaerobic mineralization and sulfide production in underlying sediments. When free sulfide is released to the overlying water, this can have a...

journal article 2022

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Sulfated glycosaminoglycan-like polymers are present in an acidophilic biofilm from a sulfidic cave

de Bruin, S. (author), Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Sarbu, S. M. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Sousa, D. Z. (author), van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (author), Lin, Y. (author)

Sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAG) are negatively charged extracellular polymeric substances that occur in biofilms from various environments. Yet, it remains unclear whether these polymers are acquired from the external environment or produced by microbes in the biofilm. To resolve this, we analyzed the presence of sGAGs in samples of an...

journal article 2022

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Validation and optimization of the ATMO-Street air quality model chain by means of a large-scale citizen-science dataset

Hooyberghs, H. (author), De Craemer, S. (author), Lefebvre, W. (author), Vranckx, S. (author), Maiheu, B. (author), Trimpeneers, E. (author), Vanpoucke, C. (author), Janssen, S. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Fierens, F. (author)

Detailed validation of air quality models is essential, but remains challenging, due to a lack of suitable high-resolution measurement datasets. This is particularly true for pollutants with short-scale spatial variations, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). While street-level air quality model chains can predict concentration...

journal article 2022

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Enhanced Laterally Resolved ToF-SIMS and AFM Imaging of the Electrically Conductive Structures in Cable Bacteria

Eachambadi, Raghavendran Thiruvallur (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Franquet, Alexis (author), Spampinato, Valentina (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Valcke, Roland (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Manca, Jean V. (author)

Cable bacteria are electroactive bacteria that form a long, linear chain of ridged cylindrical cells. These filamentous bacteria conduct centimeter-scale long-range electron transport through parallel, interconnected conductive pathways of which the detailed chemical and electrical properties are still unclear. Here, we combine time-of-flight...

journal article 2021

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Bioturbation has a limited effect on phosphorus burial in salt marsh sediments

Van De Velde, Sebastiaan J. (author), James, Rebecca K. (author), Callebaut, Ine (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

<p>It has been hypothesized that the evolution of animals during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition stimulated the burial of phosphorus in marine sediments. This assumption is centrally based on data compilations from marine sediments deposited under oxic and anoxic bottom waters. Since anoxia excludes the presence of infauna and sediment...

journal article 2021

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Cell Cycle, Filament Growth and Synchronized Cell Division in Multicellular Cable Bacteria

Geerlings, Nicole M.J. (author), Geelhoed, Jeanine S. (author), Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Kienhuis, Michiel V.M. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Middelburg, Jack J. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Polerecky, Lubos (author)

Cable bacteria are multicellular, Gram-negative filamentous bacteria that display a unique division of metabolic labor between cells. Cells in deeper sediment layers are oxidizing sulfide, while cells in the surface layers of the sediment are reducing oxygen. The electrical coupling of these two redox half reactions is ensured via long...

journal article 2021

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The impact of street canyon morphology and traffic volume on NO₂ values in the street canyons of Antwerp

Voordeckers, D. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Billen, P. (author), Tytgat, T. (author), Van Acker, M. (author)

Air pollution remains a major environmental and health concern in urban environments, especially in street canyons that show increased pollution levels due to a lack of natural ventilation. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between street canyon morphology and in-canyon pollution levels. However, these studies are typically...

journal article 2021

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Efficient long-range conduction in cable bacteria through nickel protein wires

Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Cook, Perran L.M. (author), Polerecky, Lubos (author), Eachambadi, Raghavendran Thiruvallur (author), Lozano, Helena (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Khalenkow, Dmitry (author), Wang, Da (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Filamentous cable bacteria display long-range electron transport, generating electrical currents over centimeter distances through a highly ordered network of fibers embedded in their cell envelope. The conductivity of these periplasmic wires is exceptionally high for a biological material, but their chemical structure and underlying electron...

journal article 2021

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A Cross-System Comparison of Dark Carbon Fixation in Coastal Sediments

Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author)

Dark carbon fixation (DCF) by chemoautotrophic microorganisms can sustain food webs in the seafloor by local production of organic matter independent of photosynthesis. The process has received considerable attention in deep sea systems, such as hydrothermal vents, but the regulation, depth distribution, and global importance of coastal...

journal article 2020

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Division of labor and growth during electrical cooperation in multicellular cable bacteria

Geerlings, Nicole M.J. (author), Karman, Cheryl (author), Trashin, Stanislav (author), As, Karel S. (author), Kienhuis, Michiel V.M. (author), Hidalgo-Martinez, Silvia (author), Vasquez Cardenas, D. (author), Boschker, H.T.S. (author), Meysman, F.J.R. (author)

Multicellularity is a key evolutionary innovation, leading to coordinated activity and resource sharing among cells, which generally occurs via the physical exchange of chemical compounds. However, filamentous cable bacteria display a unique metabolism in which redox transformations in distant cells are coupled via long-distance electron...

journal article 2020