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This study investigated the possibility that the electrical conductivity of carbon cloth accelerates direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) in co-cultures. Carbon cloth accelerated metabolism of DIET co-cultures (Geobacter metallireducens–Geobacter sulfurreducens and G. metallireducens–Methanosarcina barkeri) but did not promote metabolism of co-cultures performing interspecies H₂ transfer (Desulfovibrio vulgaris–G. sulfurreducens). On the other hand, DIET co-cultures were not stimulated by poorly conductive cotton cloth. Mutant strains lacking electrically conductive pili, or pili-associated cytochromes participated in DIET only in the presence of carbon cloth. In co-cultures promoted by carbon cloth, cells were primarily associated with the cloth although the syntrophic partners were too far apart for cell-to-cell biological electrical connections to be feasible. Carbon cloth seemingly mediated interspecies …