Electrotroph · Acetogen · Homoacetogen
Sporomusa ovata
Bacillota · Negativicutes · Sporomusaceae
- MES model organism
- Acetogen
- Wood ljungdahl
- Biocathode
- Tier 1
01 · Identity
Identity
Where this organism sits in the tree of life, how to obtain it, and what a cell looks like.
Lineage
- domainBacteria
- ›phylumBacillota
- ›classNegativicutes
- ›orderVeillonellales
- ›familySporomusaceae
- ›genusSporomusa
- ›speciesSporomusa ovata
Culture collections & accessions
- DSMZ
- DSM 2662
- NCBI taxon
- 2378
- Status
- Type strain
Isolation
From Silage from grass, Germany by Möller B, et al. (1984).
Möller B, et al. (1984). Sporomusa, a new genus of gram-negative anaerobic bacteria.
Genome
Cell morphology
Rod, Gram-negative (diderm)
length 3 (1.5–5) µm
- Motile: yes
- Spore-forming: yes
02 · Electron transfer
Electron transfer
How electrons cross the cell envelope — the property that makes a microbe useful in an electrochemical system.
No extracellular electron-transfer route is curated for this organism yet.
Mechanisms
Direct transfer — detail
- Notes
- Cathode-uptake cytochromes of S. ovata remain incompletely characterized as of 2024. The pathway is biochemically demonstrated but the molecular components have not been mapped to the depth Geobacter/Shewanella have been.
- Completeness
- Partial
Other
- Cathode electron uptake mechanism
- Direct EET demonstrated
03 · Growth envelope
Growth envelope
The conditions this organism tolerates and what it eats and breathes — the operating window for a reactor.
Energy metabolism
Electron donors
- H2
- Cathode
- Methanol
Electron acceptors
- CO2
Carbon sources
- CO2
- H2
- Methanol
- Fructose
- Betaine
- Lactate
- Ethanol
- Fermentative: yes
Metabolism — detail
- ATP synthase type
- Proton dependent
- Carbon fixation pathway
- Wood ljungdahl
- Energy conservation mechanism
- Rnf complex
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
| Parameter | Median | 10–90 % | n | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. specific growth rate μmax | 0.03 h⁻¹ | 0.01–0.08 | 4 | genus prior · 3 refs |
| Half-saturation constant Ks | 30 mg/L | 5–100 | 2 | genus prior · 3 refs |
| Biomass yield Y | 0.05 g/g | 0.02–0.1 | 3 | genus prior · 3 refs |
| Decay coefficient kd | Not in the corpus yet | |||
| Exchange current density i₀ | Not in the corpus yet | |||
| Transfer coefficient α | Not in the corpus yet | |||
| Tafel slope | Not 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: Sporomusa ovata
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
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.
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
Products (2)
| Product | Max titerg/L | Max rate | Coulombic efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| acetate | 4 (1–11) | 0.3 (0.1–0.7) g/L/d | 80 (65–90) % 0100 % |
| 2-oxobutyrate | 0.1 | — | — |
Substrate → product (2)
- CO2 + electrons (cathode)yields
- Acetate
- 2-oxobutyrate
biocathode at -400 mV vs SHE · yield 86 % Coulombic efficiency · First organism demonstrated to perform microbial electrosynthesis (Nevin et al. 2010).
- H2 + CO2yields
- Acetate
anaerobic, autotrophic
06 · Ecology & biofilm
Ecology & biofilm
How it lives on an electrode, who it partners with, and where it is found in nature.
Biofilm
- Forms biofilm: yes
Preferred electrode materials
- graphite stick
- carbon cloth
- modified carbon (CNT, polymer)
Ecosystems
- Freshwater
- Engineered MES
- Anaerobic digester
Isolation sources
- river mud, cattle waste
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)
- Microbial electrosynthesis acetate · Bench scaleTRL 4/9
- Carbon captureTRL 3/9
Engineering
Reactor compatibility
- MES cathode
- MES three chamber
Operation
- Load change sensitivity
- Medium
- Recommended inoculation
- Pre-grown on H2/CO2 then transferred to cathode under poised potential (-0.4 V vs SHE).
Commercial
| Name | Country | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Electrochaea | DK/DE | biomethanation (uses related methanogens) |
Multiple MES electrosynthesis patents reference Sporomusa as a biocatalyst.
Biosafety
- Pathogen: no
Modeling assets
Linked GEM: iSov-default
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
Literature reviewed 2026-04-26 · schema v1.2.0 · updated 2026-04-28 · imported 2026-04-28
References (2)
- Nevin KP, et al. (2010). Microbial electrosynthesis: feeding microbes electricity to convert CO2 and water to multicarbon extracellular organic compounds. mBio 1:e00103-10.
- Nevin KP, et al. (2011). Electrosynthesis of organic compounds from CO2 by a diversity of acetogenic microorganisms. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:2882-2886.doi:10.1128/AEM.02642-10
Version history
- 2026-04-27 · v1.2.0 · messai_curation
- Added genome_metadata, type strain flag, isolation provenance.
- Added energy_conservation_mechanism: rnf_complex.
- Added operational_characteristics.
- Flagged direct_transfer.completeness: partial (cathode uptake cytochromes uncharacterized).