The genome of the hydrocarbon degrading and iron-reducing species Geobacter metallireducens (accession nr.

Further genomes of anaerobic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria were recently completed for the iron-reducing species Geobacter metallireducens (accession nr.

In subsequent studies the dissimulatory iron-reducing archaea Pyrococcus furiosus and Pyrobaculum islandicum were shown to reduce gold chloride to insoluble gold.

Though this organism is the first example of such non-contact metabolism of Fe(III) oxide by iron-reducing bacteria, it is unlikely, pending further research, that it is the only example when taking the vast numbers of unknown bacteria still to be discovered.

In the process of respiration, this organism is capable of complete oxidation of the before-mentioned organic acids to CO using Fe(III), whereas other iron-reducing species of the families Shewanella or Ferrimonas, for example, oxidize the same organic acids incompletely to acetate.