A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating ...

The researchers found that some bacteria use naturally occurring compounds called naphthoquinones to transfer electrons to external surfaces. This process, known as extracellular respiration, mimics ...

A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin identified how these bacteria expel electrons externally.

Lab experiments backed this up. When placed on conductive surfaces, the bacteria kept growing and producing electricity, as if they were breathing through the material itself. "This newly discovered ...

Electric respiration explained Most modern organisms rely on oxygen to metabolize food and release energy. Oxygen serves as the final electron acceptor in a chain of reactions that produces energy.