Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations and Molecular Conductance Measurements of the Bacterial Decaheme Cytochrome MtrF

Abstract

AbstractMicroorganisms overcome the considerable hurdle of respiring extracellular solid substrates by deploying large multiheme cytochrome complexes that form 20 nanometer conduits to traffic electrons through the periplasm and across the cellular outer membrane. Here we report the first kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and single‐molecule scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements of the Shewanella oneidensis MR‐1 outer membrane decaheme cytochrome MtrF, which can perform the final electron transfer step from cells to minerals and microbial fuel cell anodes. We find that the calculated electron transport rate through MtrF is consistent with previously reported in vitro measurements of the Shewanella Mtr complex, as well as in vivo respiration rates on electrode surfaces assuming a reasonable (experimentally verified) coverage of cytochromes on the cell surface. The simulations also reveal a rich phase diagram in the overall electron occupation density of the hemes as a function of electron injection and ejection rates. Single‐molecule tunneling spectroscopy confirms MtrF’s ability to mediate electron transport between an STM tip and an underlying Au(111) surface, but at rates higher than expected from previously calculated heme‐to‐heme electron transfer rates for solvated molecules.