Activation Enhancement of Citric Acid Cycle to Promote Bioelectrocatalytic Activity of arcA Knockout Escherichia coli Toward High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cell

The bioelectrocatalysis in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) relies on both electrochemistry and metabolism of microbes. We discovered that under MFC microaerobic condition, an arcA knockout mutant Escherichia coli (arcA – ) shows enhanced activation of the citric acid cycle (TCA cycle) for glycerol oxidation, as indicated by the increased key enzymes’ activity in the TCA cycle. Meanwhile, a diffusive electron mediator (hydroxyl quinone derivative) is excreted by the genetically engineered arcA –, resulting in a much higher power density than its parental strain toward glycerol oxidation. This work demonstrates that metabolic engineering is a feasible approach to construct efficient bioelectrocatalysts for high-performance MFCs.