TY - JOUR
T1 - On the low-frequency electrical polarization of bacterial cells in sands
AU - Ntarlagiannis, Dimitrios
AU - Yee, Nathan
AU - Slater, Lee
PY - 2005/12/28
Y1 - 2005/12/28
N2 - We performed electrical measurements on sands flushed with bacterial suspensions of varying concentration. The first experiment was conducted with Shewanella putrefaciens (biomass 0-0.5 mg/L) and the second with Escherichia coli (biomass 0-42 mg/L). We measured a biomass- dependent low-frequency (10 Hz) polarization. At cell density <12 mg/L polarization decreased (up to 60 %) relative to before introduction of calls; the decrease was greater when the sand was artificially. Fe-coated to enhance the affinity of cells to the mineral surface. At cell density >12mg/L polarization increased (up to 15%). We attribute the decrease in polarization at low cell density to alteration of the mineral-fluid interface due to mineral-cell interactions. The polarization enhancement at higher cell density is possibly a pore throat mechanism resulting from decreased ionic mobility and/or electron transfer due to cell accumulation in pores.
AB - We performed electrical measurements on sands flushed with bacterial suspensions of varying concentration. The first experiment was conducted with Shewanella putrefaciens (biomass 0-0.5 mg/L) and the second with Escherichia coli (biomass 0-42 mg/L). We measured a biomass- dependent low-frequency (10 Hz) polarization. At cell density <12 mg/L polarization decreased (up to 60 %) relative to before introduction of calls; the decrease was greater when the sand was artificially. Fe-coated to enhance the affinity of cells to the mineral surface. At cell density >12mg/L polarization increased (up to 15%). We attribute the decrease in polarization at low cell density to alteration of the mineral-fluid interface due to mineral-cell interactions. The polarization enhancement at higher cell density is possibly a pore throat mechanism resulting from decreased ionic mobility and/or electron transfer due to cell accumulation in pores.
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U2 - 10.1029/2005GL024751
DO - 10.1029/2005GL024751
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:32644452737
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 32
SP - 1
EP - 4
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 24
ER -