The Bacteria That Breathe Electricity What if respiration didn’t need oxygen — just an electrical outlet? Some bacteria do exactly that. Certain microbes can “breathe” electricity, using solid surfaces like rocks or metal instead of oxygen as their final electron acceptor. Rather than dumping electrons into air, they export them directly outside their cells. To do this, these bacteria grow tiny conductive filaments called nanowires — protein structures that act like microscopic electrical cables