Without key cell cycle control genes, SAR11 cells experience aneuploidy and growth inhibition when exposed to changes in nutrients, carbon sources or temperature stress, a vulnerability that may repre...

Slowing rotation (longer days) may improve marine biospheric productivity and oxygenation on Earth and Earth-like exoplanets.

Multicellular cable bacteria are capable of transferring electrons over centimeter distances through an internal array of conductive fibers. These long, filamentous bacteria function as a living electrochemical cell, performing sulfide reduction at one end and oxygen reduction at the other end. To investigate how O2 reduction is linked to the long-distance electron transport along the conductive fibers, we performed a detailed electrochemical characterization of native filaments as well as extracted fiber skeletons without membranes or cytoplasm. Our data show that fibers skeletons only perform longitudinal electron transport and are not electrochemically active towards oxygen. This opposes a previous proposition that the conductive fiber network displays electrocatalytic behavior towards oxygen. Still, native cable bacterium filaments are capable of high oxygen reduction rates, thus demonstrating that dedicated enzyme systems in the periplasm or inner membrane are responsible for O2 reduction. Together, our data provide empirical support for a model in which diffusible c-type cytochromes mediate electron transport through the periplasm, shuttling electrons between separate respiratory complexes and the conductive fiber network. As such, our study resolves a crucial aspect of the unique electrogenic metabolism in cable bacteria, and clarifies the application potential of the highly conductive fibers in Bio-electrochemical System technologies. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Research Foundation - Flanders, https://ror.org/03qtxy027, S004523N, G0ADR25N, 11D7822N University of Antwerp, https://ror.org/008x57b05, TopBof European Innovation Council, PRINGLE 101046719

Nolda Tipping-Griffioen is initiatiefnemer van de nieuwe ambitie van de RUG: zij willen in 2030 los zijn van Big Tech [1]. In december 2025 sprak ik…

Het Noorse Nobelprijscomité heeft een nieuwe prijs in het leven geroepen voor opmerkelijke prestaties in kleinzielig autocratisch dementerend narcisme.

Nolda Tipping-Griffioen is initiatiefnemer van de nieuwe ambitie van de RUG: zij willen in 2030 los zijn van Big Tech [1]. In december 2025 sprak ik…

Wastewater nitrogen removal through anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process is limited by the slow growth rate of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (

The increasing need for efficient nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment has driven interest in innovative biological and electrochemical approaches…

The intensification of coastal hypoxia under anthropogenic eutrophication and climate change necessitates understanding microbial adaptive mechanisms.…

Microbial syntrophy of electroactive bacteria (EAB) and nitrogen-removing bacteria (NRB) holds great promise for sustainable nitrogen removal, yet its…

Understanding the ecophysiology of thermophilic anammox bacteria is crucial for expanding anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox)-based nitrogen remova…

Nitrogenous wastewater is a major environmental problem. Denitrification refers to sequential reduction of nitrate (NO3-) and nitrite (NO2-) to nitric oxide (NO