Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20 biofilms were cultivated on 316 steel, 1018 steel, or borosilicate 37 glass under steady-state conditions in electron-acceptor limiting (EAL) and electron-donor 38 limiting (EDL) conditions with lactate and sulfate in a defined medium. Increased corrosion was observed on steel under EDLconditions compared to 316 steel, and biofilms on 1018 carbon 40 steel under the EDL condition had at least 2-fold higher corrosion rates compared to the EAL 41 condition. Protecting the 1018 metal coupon from biofilm colonization significantly reduced 42 corrosion, suggesting that the corrosion mechanism was enhanced through attachment between the 43 material and the biofilm. Metabolomic mass spectrometry analyses demonstrated an increase in a 44 flavin-like molecule under the 1018 EDL condition and sulfonates under the 1018 EAL condition. 45 These data indicate the importance of S-cycling under the EAL condition and the EDL is 46 associated to increased biocorrosion via indirect extracellular electron transfer mediated by 47 endogenously produced flavin-like molecules. 48 58 deliverability. Adding to scale of the problem, MIC occurs under a wide variety of environmental 59 conditions, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial locations. 60 MIC can involve a variety of different microorganisms that include sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and iron-reducing bacteria (IRB) (Little et al. 2007, Enning and Garrelfs 2014, 62 Bonifay et al. 2017). Together with SRBs and IRBs, microbial consortia are typically involved in two mechanisms of MIC: EET-MIC (extracellular electron transfer, Type I), cross membrane 64 electron transfer (indirect and/or direct) (Kato 2016 and references therein), and/or metabolite-65 MIC (Type II), biocorrosion caused by secreted metabolites (e.g., H + , organic acids, sulfides) as 66 opposed to chemical corrosion which can refer to direct metal-oxidant interactions (Li et al. 2018, 67 Kannan et al 2018). Both EET-MIC and M-MIC are electrochemical corrosion processes (Li et 68 al. 2018, Dinh et al. 2004), and different EET mechanisms can promote the transfer of electrons 69 to or from extracellular solid compounds (Gralnick and Newman 2007, Kato 2016). The process 70 of EET can be mediated directly with metal surfaces via cellular connections and/or conductive 71 extracellular structures (e.g., Gorby et al. 2006) or indirectly via diffusible redox molecules 72 (Watanabe et al. 2009). The goal of this study was to elucidate nutrient ratio impacts on potential 73 M-MIC and/or EET-MIC mechanisms during initial biofilm formation under continuous growth 74 conditions in a defined growth medium.
75Extracellular electron transfer, which is shown to enhance MIC, is now recognized as a 76 more widespread microbial phenotype and suggests that EET-MIC could be a major mechanism 77 for biocorrosion world-wide (Nealson and Saffarini, 1994, Kato 2016, Huang et al. 2018.78 Previous work postulated that some SRBs contribute to MIC under various growth conditions 79 through Fe 0 oxidation via inte...