Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Scientists stumbled across the first known manganese-fueled bacteria

Bacteria that eat manganese

A bacteria accidentally found in the kitchen sink of Jared Leadbetter, an environmental microbiologist at Caltech has the ability to survive off of manganese. The bacteria was observed using the manganese as a fuel. This is done by taking the electrons from the manganese the same way humans take the electrons form carbohydrates. Once the electrons are taken form the manganese the metal turn in to a dark material which is known as manganese oxide. The new bacteria was named Candidatus Manganitrophus noduliformans and Ramlibacter Lithotrophicus. The discovery of this explains findings from the 1870s of grapefruit-sized balls of manganese oxide on the ocean floor. More study is needed to find more examples of these organisms in the environment but the community at large can be thankfully for an accident that lead to the discovery.







1 comment:

  1. WOWOW. Its so crazy what you can find in such weird places. I founded it very interesting that researchers were able to find grapefruit sized balls manganese oxide on the ocean floor.

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