Electricity-eating bacteria in marine sediments may play role in combating climate change Scientists isolated new strains of a common marine bacteria from the Trunk River estuary in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. New research shows how these bacteria may have a role in locking away climate-warming carbon dioxide. (Photo: Sandra Brosnahan, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) May 31, 2021 SHARE Global oceans absorb about 25% of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. Electricity-eating bacteria known as photoferrotrophs could provide a boost to this essential process, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis. Scientists led by Arpita Bose, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, found that bacteria found in brackish sediments can “eat” electricity and, in the process, absorb and lock away climate-warming carbon dioxide. This unusual skill was previously thought to be almost exclusive to freshwater bacteria, but may be common in marine bacteria. The study was published May 30 in The ISME Journal, an official journal of the International Society of Microbial Ecology.