Electrified bacterial filaments zap uranium

Nature : Pili, which are hairlike filaments that sprout from some bacteria, can enable the bacteria to remove uranium from contaminated groundwater without becoming poisoned in the process. Geobacter sulfurreducens, for example, obtains energy by reducing, or adding electrons to, metals in the environment; when pili are present, the bacterium is able to do this outside the cell envelope. In addition to keeping uranium out of the bacterium itself, pili provide a greater surface area for electron transfer, increasing the amount of uranium removed. Gemma Reguera of Michigan State University, who participated in the discovery , is most excited about the possibility of developing nonliving nanowires that share the pili’s properties of electron transfer. Such devices could be used in environments where bacteria can’t live, such as the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. It’s possible that conductive nanowires could also be used to remove radioactive isotopes of plutonium or cobalt.