Articles of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

Microorganisms that take up electrons from metallic iron [Fe(0)] have been regarded as one of the major causative factors for iron corrosion under anoxic conditions. So far, only a few strains of sulfate reducers and methanogens have been demonstrated to induce biocorrosion. Kato et al. (p. 67–73) succeeded in the isolation of an acetogenic bacterium, Sporomusa sp. strain GT1, which grew via acetogenesis with Fe(0) as the sole electron donor, resulting in enhanced iron corrosion, while other typical acetogens did not. This study demonstrated that acetogenesis is the hitherto-unidentified microbial metabolism inducing biocorrosion.