SEM — Untreated control cells of S. putrefaciens with surface appendages (×20,000). Species-level image (Shewanella putrefaciens (JCM 20190)). Adapted from Palamae S et al. (2024), Foods 13:3516, Fig. 2A. Source · CC BY 4.0 · Cropped to panel A; converted to WebP

Electrogen · Iron reducer · Manganese reducer

Shewanella putrefaciens

Pseudomonadota · Gammaproteobacteria · Shewanellaceae

ElectroactiveEET outwardBSL-1Partial record
  • Shewanella
  • Electrogen
  • Facultative
  • Tier 2
Outward
Electron transfer
electroactive
25°C
Optimal temperature
grows 4–37 °C
7
Optimal pH
grows pH 5.5–9

01 · Identity

Identity

Where this organism sits in the tree of life, how to obtain it, and what a cell looks like.

Lineage

  1. domainBacteria
  2. ›phylumPseudomonadota
  3. ›classGammaproteobacteria
  4. ›orderAlteromonadales
  5. ›familyShewanellaceae
  6. ›genusShewanella
  7. ›speciesShewanella putrefaciens

Culture collections & accessions

NCBI taxon
24

Cell morphology

Rod, Gram-negative (diderm)

  • Motile: yes

02 · Electron transfer

Electron transfer

How electrons cross the cell envelope — the property that makes a microbe useful in an electrochemical system.

ElectroactiveEET outward
CELLELECTRODEOUTER-MEMBRANE CYTOCHROMESe⁻SOLUBLE SHUTTLESe⁻
Electrons flow outward: cell → electrode (exoelectrogen)

Mechanisms

  • Outer-membrane cytochromes: yes
  • Endogenous shuttles: yes

Direct transfer — detail

Notes
Mtr-pathway homologs present; characterization is shallower than for S. oneidensis MR-1.
Completeness
Partial

Mediated transfer — detail

Completeness
Partial

03 · Growth envelope

Growth envelope

The conditions this organism tolerates and what it eats and breathes — the operating window for a reactor.

Facultative anaerobeChemoorganoheterotroph
Temperature25 (4–37) °C
0100 °C
pH7 (5.5–9)
014

Energy metabolism

Electron donors

  • Lactate
  • H2
  • Formate

Electron acceptors

  • O2
  • Fe(III)
  • Mn(IV)
  • Nitrate
  • Anode

Carbon sources

  • Lactate
  • Formate
  • amino acids
  • Respiratory: yes

04 · Growth & electron-transfer kinetics

Growth & electron-transfer kinetics

How fast this organism grows and how hard it pushes electrons into an anode, as the corpus reports it, and what those constants imply when you run them.

Kinetic evidence

ParameterMedian10–90 %nSource
Max. specific growth rate μmax0.2 h⁻¹0.08–0.52genus prior · 1 ref
Half-saturation constant Ks30 mg/L5–1001genus prior · 1 ref
Biomass yield Y0.1 g/g0.05–0.181genus prior · 1 ref
Decay coefficient kdNot in the corpus yet
Exchange current density i₀Not in the corpus yet
Transfer coefficient αNot in the corpus yet
Tafel slopeNot in the corpus yet

Median of the extracted values, the 10–90 % spread behind it and how many values it pools.

Evidence rows (0)

Genus-level prior: Shewanella putrefaciens

A genus-level prior is a summary for the whole genus, not a measurement on this strain.

Constants that drive the simulation

Scenario — values you set, not evidence

Initial substrate1000 mg/L
Anode potential vs SHE0 V
Duration72 h
Initial attached biomass0.1 g/m²
Anode area per liquid volume100 m²/m³
Reactor mode

Growth simulation

Scenario: Initial substrate 1000 mg/L · Initial attached biomass 0.1 g/m² · Anode area per liquid volume 100 m²/m³ · Duration 72 h · Batch. Values you set, not evidence.

1.1g/m²
Peak biomass
12.15h
Time to 90 % substrate removal
Attached biomassg/m²
00.511.50204060h
Bulk substratemg/L
050010000204060h

No current model

The current needs Max. current density jmax, Half-saturation potential E_KA, which this source does not have.

  • Substrate-saturated growth
  • Slowing
  • Stationary

Monod growth has no lag phase; the bands mark where the net growth rate is near its maximum, falling, near zero or negative.

Simulator notes
  • decayPerH absent: no endogenous decay term, so growth is an upper bound
  • biofilmDensityKgPerM3 absent: thickness not computed (thicknessUm = null)
  • no anodePotentialVvsShe / overpotentialV given: current not computed (currentDensityAPerM2 = null)

These curves are a Monod and Nernst-Monod idealisation (after Marcus et al. 2007 and Torres et al. 2008), parameterised only by the constants listed above: each one carries its n and its 10–90 % range, and a constant with n = 1 has no spread at all. No diffusion inside the biofilm, no detachment, no coulombic-efficiency split. The scenario values are yours, not evidence.

05 · Performance

Performance

Reported electrochemical output, the role it plays in a reactor, and what it produces.

Role in a reactor

Anode chamberAnode: primary current producer

06 · Ecology & biofilm

Ecology & biofilm

How it lives on an electrode, who it partners with, and where it is found in nature.

Ecosystems

  • Marine
  • Freshwater
  • Sediment marine
  • Sediment freshwater

Isolation sources

  • spoiled fish, marine sediment

07 · Applications, engineering & safety

Applications, engineering & safety

Where it has been put to work, how tractable it is to engineer, and what handling it requires.

Applications (2)

  • Bioelectricity generation
    TRL 3/9
  • Bioremediation metals
    TRL 3/9

Biosafety

BSL-1
  • Pathogen: no

Opportunistic in immunocompromised hosts; routine BSL-1 in research labs.

08 · Sources & data quality

Sources & data quality

Every value above traces to a citation. This is how complete and how confident the record is.

Record quality

PartialMedium confidenceCurated: manual

Literature reviewed 2026-05-13 · schema v1.3.0 · updated 2026-05-13 · imported 2026-05-13

Open data gaps (1)

  • Per-strain electrochemical performance is dispersed across reclassified taxa (S. oneidensis was split from S. putrefaciens MR-1 in 1999).

References (1)

  1. Kim BH, et al. (1999). Direct electrode reaction of Fe(III)-reducing bacterium, Shewanella putrefaciens. J Microbiol Biotechnol 9:127-131.

    supports eet direction, eet mechanism