Microbial formate production and consumption during syntrophic conversion of ethanol or lactate to methane was examined in purified flocs and digestor contents obtained from a whey-processing digestor. Formate production by digestor contents or purified digestor flocs was dependent on CO/sub 2/ and either ethanol or lactate but not H/sub 2/ gas as an electron donor. Floc preparations accumulated fourfold-higher levels of formate (40 ..mu..M) than digestor contents, and the free flora was the primary site for formate cleavage to CO/sub 2/ and H/sub 2/ (90 ..mu..M formate per h). Inhibition of methanogenesis by CHCl/sub 3/ resulted in formate accumulation and suppression of syntrophic ethanol oxidation. H/sub 2/ gas was an insignificant intermediary metabolite of syntrophic ethanol conversion by flocs, and it exogenous addition neither stimulated methanogenes nor inhibited the initial rate of ethanol oxidation. These results demonstrated that >90% of the syntrophic ethanol conversion to methane by mixed cultures containing primarily Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Methanobacterium formicicum was mediated via interspecies formate transfer and the <10% was mediated via interspecies H/sub 2/ transfer. The results are discussed in relation to biochemical thermodynamics. A model is presented which describes the dynamics of a bicarbonate-formate electron shuttle mechanism for control of carbon andmore » electron flow during syntrophic methanogenesis and provides a novel mechanism for energy conservation by syntrophic acetogens.« less

Control of interspecies electron flow during anaerobic digestion: significance of formate transfer versus hydrogen transfer during syntrophic methanogenesis in flocs. [Methanobacterium formicicum; Desulfovibrio vulgaris]

Abstract This volume is the natural follow-up to Arthur Reber’s 2019 book, The First Minds: Caterpillars, ‘Karyotes, and Consciousness (TFM). In that earlier work, the Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) theory was developed based on a number of earlier efforts published in a variety of journals between 1997 and 2019 as well as in talks, colloquia, and presentations at conferences. The core proposition in TFM was that life and mind are co-terminous. All organisms, all species extant and extinct, are sentient. All have an existentially secure consciousness—without which they would have been evolutionary dead-ends, unable to survive in the chaotic, dangerous environment in which life first appeared. And, importantly, all forms of sentience, all forms of cognitive functioning right up to and including those expressed by humans, evolved from the original expression of consciousness at the birth of life in prokaryotes. The proposition that all life forms evolved from those first unicellular species is a widely accepted, foundational principle of the biological and social sciences. The CBC simply applies that same proposition to sentience. 

The Sentient Cell

Extract The perfect book for any scientifically curious individual seeking updates to research on my favourite subject in all the world—the intelligent living cell.Brian J. Ford President Emeritus University of Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (UK) The most comprehensive vision of post-neo-Darwinian biology to date. Life is not about genes and digital information codes. Life is about sentience, consciousness, mind, and intelligence. The building blocks of sentience and consciousness are cells. A landmark book that heralds a welcome paradigm shift in biology.Predrag B. Slijepčević Department of Life Sciences, Brunel University London (UK) In 20 years of researching biological cognition in unicellular organisms I have studiously avoided what I call the ‘C-word’, consciousness. The Sentient Cell has made me thoroughly reconsider my reticence. It is a remarkable book that exposes the standard model of consciousness for the early 19th-century relic it is, providing abundant empirical evidence of why it should be supplanted. An excellent introduction to a necessary conversation that will unfold over the coming decades and which sits squarely on the right side of history. Vive la révolution!Pamela Lyon University of Adelaide (Australia) 

Advanced Praise for The Sentient Cell: The Cellular Foundations of Consciousness

Abstract This chapter presents an overview of the evidence to support the Cellular Basis of Consciousness theory. It reviews the large, indeed enormous, literature for sentience, awareness, subjectivity, cognitive functions, feelings, motivational states, learning, memory formation, decision-making, and communication in a large number of single-cell species. As noted in Chapter 1, these behaviours are ones routinely cited as evidence for sentience, cognition. However, within the standard approaches to what’s been dubbed ‘consciousness science’, they are treated as though they are not reflective of an existential sentience, but as ‘dumb’ routines carried out independently of any internal experiences, feelings, or valenced sensations. The material, however, makes clear that this ‘competence without comprehension’ stance is, quite simply, wrong. 

It’s Cells All the Way Down

Abstract Biological order depends on information simply because the maintenance of internal cellular integrity requires its self-referential measurement. That internal assessment, as noted in several places in earlier chapters, depends on the reception of environmental information through the cellular plasma membrane. A critical aspect of information management is the cellular attachment to an information ‘space’, an integrated pervasive information field (PIF). This field represents a partitioning of the universal information field, enabling a cell to internally coordinate environmental sensory inputs and connecting the vital cellular senome to its genome, epigenome, cytoskeleton, and endomembranes. In multicellular organisms, individual PIFs aggregate into a higher-order information space: a multicellular N-space Episenome. This collective information field is necessary for the functional sharing of information among the wide variety of highly differentiated cells and the obligate microbial fraction of holobionts. This same N-space Episenome further functions as a collective information architectural matrix which operates as a heritable, transferable, and adaptive morphogenetic template for multicellular biological development. Accordingly, the N-space Episenome is conceived as a whole cell read–write informational matrix that assists in every aspect of multicellular life and is fundamental to conscious self-reference. 

The N-Space Episenome

Archaea and bacteria living in syntrophic consortia take advantage of the metabolic abilities of their syntrophic partners to overcome energetic barriers and break down compounds that they cannot digest by themselves. Methanogenesis and anaerobic oxidization of methane (AOM) are main processes involved in syntrophic consortia. Interspecies electron transfer, which is a major type of microbial communication in syntrophic processes, has a significant impact on the global carbon cycle. Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) is achieved by electrical contacts between the electron donor and acceptor cells. In this chapter, we highlight recent advances of DIET in methanogenesis and AOM processes.

Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer Between Archaea and Bacteria

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Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer Between Archaea and Bacteria