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The paper
R.C. Aller et al., “Worm tubes as conduits for the electrogenic microbial grid in marine sediments,” Sci Adv, 5:eaaw3651, 2019.
Cable bacteria (family Desulfobulbaceae) are known for forming long lines of cells that stretch through underwater sediments and usher a stream of electrons through their ranks. It was thought that these living electrical wires couldn’t grow in environments shared by animals such as brittle stars or mantis shrimp, which violently stir up the mud and might cut the microbial cables to bits. But it turns out that cable bacteria can withstand this upheaval—if they team up with parchment worms.
Cells at the sediment-embedded ends of these bacterial filaments collect electrons from sulfides and other donor molecules in the sediment and pass the particles up the cable to react with oxygen in the topmost layers of mud. The process releases energy for all the cells within the ...
