This National Science Foundation project grant of $849,992 supports research at Yale University from January 2023 to December 2025 under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074). The grant aims to further understanding of microbial biofilms' remarkable ability to conduct electrons over long distances via secretion and assembly of cytochrome nanowires. Specifically, the grant will characterize the secretion machinery and role of novel bipartite pili in Geobacter sulfurreducens. Researchers will reconstitute G. sulfurreducens' pili biogenesis, assembly, and secretion pathways in a heterologous system. They will also elucidate pili dynamics and stability, quantify interactions between outer membrane cytochromes and pili during secretion, and characterize the novel pili-based cytochrome secretion system structure using cryo-electron tomography. Findings will train scientists at the biology-physics-chemistry interface and advance bioelectronic platforms for manufacturing living biomaterials. The collaborative US-France project is co-funded by the NSF and Agence Nationale de la Recherche of France.
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