Bacteria evolve a way to share electrons
"Life is powered by the shuffling of electrons. When organisms break down a food source like a sugar, they're really extracting high-energy electrons, which they shuffle down through intermediate proteins before they end up in a final electron acceptor...Now, researchers have witnessed the evolution of a bacteria that transfers its electrons to another bacteria, which goes on to put them to further use."
I can't comment on the accuracy of the science, but the process sounds both simple and amazing...
To figure out what was going on, they did whole-genome sequencing, and found only one change: a single base missing in the gene for a protein that regulates RNA production. Making a similar mutation in another strain also allowed those bacteria to form quick-growing nodules. The mutation appears to cause proteins involved in electron transfer to be expressed at increased levels. These proteins end up on pilli, arm-like structures that extend out from the bacteria.
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