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Electron shuttles in biotechnology

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 20; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.copbio.2009.09.006

1879-0429

Kazuya Watanabe, Mike Manefield, Matthew Lee, Atsushi Kouzuma,

Electrochemical sensors and biosensors

Electron-shuttling compounds (electron shuttles [ESs], or redox mediators) are essential components in intracellular electron transfer, while microbes also utilize self-produced and naturally present ESs for extracellular electron transfer. These compounds assist in microbial energy metabolism by facilitating electron transfer between microbes, from electron-donating substances to microbes, and/or from microbes to electron-accepting substances. Artificially supplemented ESs can create new routes of electron flow in the microbial energy metabolism, thereby opening up new possibilities for the application of microbes to biotechnology processes. Typical examples of such processes include halogenated-organics bioremediation, azo-dye decolorization, and microbial fuel cells. Herein we suggest that ESs can be applied widely to create new microbial biotechnology processes.