“…The likelihood of compensatory mutations to adapt to gene deletions (Leang et al, 2005; Schwarz et al, 2024; Smith et al, 2014; Tremblay et al, 2011), confounds the interpretation of the simplistic functional approach of merely documenting the phenotype of gene deletions. An additional complication is that gene deletions can have unexpected pleiotropic impacts on the expression or localization of other electron transport proteins (Flanagan et al, 2017; Izallalen et al, 2008; Smith et al, 2023; Steidl et al, 2016). Thus, there is a strong need for “bottom up” approaches in which the function and interaction of G. sulfurreducens outer‐surface proteins are studied in a more controlled manner in a heterologous host with better‐defined pathways for extracellular electron transfer (Lovley & Holmes, 2022).…”