MESSAI.iO

Electrogen · Iron reducer · Manganese reducer

Shewanella oneidensis MR-4

Also known as S. oneidensis MR-4

Pseudomonadota · Gammaproteobacteria · Shewanellaceae

ElectroactiveEET outwardBSL-1Partial record
  • Shewanella
  • Electrogen
  • Marine
  • Tier 2
Outward
Electron transfer
electroactive
30°C
Optimal temperature
grows 4–37 °C
7
Optimal pH
grows pH 6–9

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 oneidensis MR-4

Culture collections & accessions

NCBI taxon
60480

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 (MtrCAB, OmcA) homologous to MR-1; performance and shuttle production slightly different.
Completeness
Mapped

Mediated transfer — detail

Completeness
Mapped

03 · Growth envelope

Growth envelope

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

Facultative anaerobeChemoorganoheterotroph
Temperature30 (4–37) °C
0100 °C
pH7 (6–9)
014

Energy metabolism

Electron donors

  • Lactate
  • H2
  • Formate

Electron acceptors

  • O2
  • Fe(III)
  • Mn(IV)
  • Anode
  • Dmso
  • Tmao

Carbon sources

  • Lactate
  • Formate
  • Respiratory: yes

04 · 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

05 · Ecology & biofilm

Ecology & biofilm

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

Ecosystems

  • Marine
  • Sediment marine

06 · 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 (1)

  • Bioelectricity generation
    TRL 3/9

Biosafety

BSL-1
  • Pathogen: no

07 · 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)

  • MR-4-specific electrochemical performance is rarely separated from MR-1 in the corpus.

References (1)

  1. Bretschger O, et al. (2007). Current production and metal oxide reduction by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 wild type and mutants. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:7003-7012. (Comparative paper that brackets MR-1 vs MR-4 performance.)doi:10.1128/AEM.01087-07