Living cables explain enigmatic electric currents

The enigma of electric currents in the seabed is solved. Scientists from Aarhus University have sensationally discovered bacteria that function as living electrical cables. Each of the centimetre-long ‘cable bacteria’ contains a bundle of insulated wires leading an electric current from one end to the other.

Cable bacteria explain electric currents in the seabed


Living cables explain enigmatic electric currents“Our experiments showed that the electric connections in the seabed must be solid structures built by bacteria,” says PhD student Christian Pfeffer, Aarhus University.




Kilometers of living cables





Biological innovation




The article in Nature:

“Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances” by Christian Pfeffer, Steffen Larsen, Jie Song, Mingdong Dong, Flemming Besenbacher, Rikke Louise Meyer, Kasper Urup Kjeldsen, Lars Schreiber, Yuri A. Gorby, Mohamed Y. El-Naggar, Kar Man Leung, Andreas Schramm, Nils Risgaard-Petersen & Lars Peter Nielsen. DOI:10.1038/nature11586 Download PDF version of article.


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