Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Study Of Charge Transport Mechanism In Microbial Nanowires, Ramesh Adhikari

Doctoral Dissertations

Conductivity of an individual proteinaceous filaments, called pili or microbial nanowires, produced by wild type Geobacter sulfurreducens was measured using a low-noise electrical transport technique. It was shown that the conductivity is diminished if aromatic amino acid residues are removed from the pili. It was demonstrated that the conductivity of G. sulfurreducens pili is similar to that of synthetic organic polymers and is related to the respiration rate of the bacteria. Conductivity measurements were performed on microbial nanowires produced by other species of Geobacter with a different aromatic amino acid distribution along the wire. Also, measurements on a mutated pili …