Superbugs from space can provide extra energy

California Telegraph (IANS) Wednesday 22nd February, 2012

Superbugs from space could help provide extra energy for our needs, being highly efficient in generating electricity.

B. Stratosphericus - a bug commonly concentrated in the stratosphere orbiting the earth with the satellites - is a key component of a new 'super' biofilm that Newcastle University scientists have engineered.

The microbe normally is brought down to earth as a result of atmospheric cycling processes and was isolated by the team from the bed of the River Wear in northeast England.

Grant Burgess, professor of marine biotechnology at Newcastle, said the research demonstrated the "potential power of the technique," the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology reports.

"What we have done is deliberately manipulate the microbial mix to engineer a biofilm that is more efficient at generating electricity," he explains, according to a Newcastle statement.

Isolating 75 different species of bugs from the Wear Estuary, the team tested the power-generation of each one using a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC).

They were able to create an artificial biofilm, doubling the electrical output of the MFC from 105 Watts per cubic metre to 200 Watts per cubic metre.

While still low, this would be enough power to run an electric light and could provide a much needed power source in parts of the world without electricity.

MFCs, which work in a way similar to a battery, use bugs to convert organic compounds directly into electricity by a process known as bio-catalytic oxidation.

As well as B. Stratosphericus, other power-generating bugs in the mix were Bacillus altitudinis - another bug from space and a new member of the phylum Bacteroidetes.