Bacterial Cell

Polarization curves are of paramount importance for the detection of toxic components in microbial fuel cell (MFC) based biosensors. In this study, polarization curves were made under non-toxic conditions and under toxic conditions after the addition of various concentrations of nickel, bentazon, sodiumdodecyl sulfate and potassium ferricyanide. The experimental polarization curves show that toxic components have an effect on the electrochemically active bacteria in the cell. (Extended) Butler Volmer Monod (BVM) models were used to describe the polarization curves of the MFC under nontoxic and toxic conditions. It was possible to properly fit the (extended) BVM models using linear regression techniques to the polarization curves and to distinguish between different types of kinetic inhibitions. For each of the toxic components, the value of the kinetic inhibition constant Ki was also estimated from the experimental data. The value of Ki indicates the sensitivity of the sensor for a ...

Background The need for discovery of alternative, renewable, environmentally friendly energy sources and the development of cost-efficient, "clean" methods for their conversion into higher fuels becomes imperative. Ethanol, whose significance as fuel has dramatically increased in the last decade, can be produced from hexoses and pentoses through microbial fermentation. Importantly, plant biomass, if appropriately and effectively decomposed, is a potential inexpensive and highly renewable source of the hexose and pentose mixture. Recently, the engineered (to also catabolize pentoses) anaerobic bacterium Zymomonas mobilis has been widely discussed among the most promising microorganisms for the microbial production of ethanol fuel. However, Z. mobilis genome having been fully sequenced in 2005, there is still a small number of published studies of its in vivo physiology and limited use of the metabolic engineering experimental and computational toolboxes to understand its me...