Microbial Ecosystems Supported by Electrical Energy in the Ocean Environments

Abstract

Life on the Earth has been thought to be supported by the primary production through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. However, electrosynthetic microbial activities that exploit electrical energy for their energy conservation was hypothesized based on the recent discoveries of electrical current generation in environments. Primary production of an ecosystem through electrosynthesis would update our understanding of biogeochemical processes, but electrosynthetic microbes are poorly understood and thus their roles in the environment are unknown. Therefore, I am examining electrosynthetic microbes and their molecular systems in ocean environments. This talk will discuss potential roles of electrosynthetic microbial activities in a biosphere by introducing novel microbes thrived in experiments reproducing electrosynthetic settings and considering the electrical energy available in environments.