Mikrobe des Jahres 2024: Kabelbakterium Electonema

Today, the current-conducting bacterium Electronema was named Microbe of the Year. Prof. Dr. Tillmann Lüders, holder of the Chair of Ecological Microbiology (ÖMIK) at the University of Bayreuth, is significantly involved in the research of this microbe. He investigates the diversity, structure and function of natural microbiomes in the soil and in the terrestrial water cycle.

Microbial chains that can conduct electricity over several centimetres exist on the seabed and in lakes. The most important representative of these new cable bacteria is Electronema. The Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) today named it "Microbe of the Year 2024". The VAAM explains: "Cable bacteria form chains up to five centimeters long consisting of tens of thousands of bacterial cells. "The current conduction in the protein fibers of the cable bacteria is similar to that of a metallic cable." This means that this microbe is "extremely interesting for electronics based on biomaterials".