An electrotroph is a

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

which can receive

electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...

s necessary for its growth from an

electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or a gas). In electrochemical cells, electrodes are essential parts that can consist of a varie ...

(power supply) terminal or other electron donors. The chemolithoautotrophic bacterium '' Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans'', that lives in ocean

thermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotsp ...

s, has been shown to exhibit electrotrophic behavior in experiments. In particular, it switches the electron source for carbon assimilation from diffusible ions to an electrode under the condition that electrical current is the only source of energy and electrons.

References

Microbiology Extremophiles {{microbiology-stub