Rhenium has no known essential biological function. However, rhenium can act as an analog to vanadium in a molybdenum-independent nitrogen fixation system in Azotobacter vinelandii (Bishop et al, 1982). Desulfovibrio desulfuricans can reduce rhenium(VII) to rhenium(IV) using H₂ as an electron donor under anaerobic conditions (Xu et al, 2000).

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Xu H, Barton LL, Zhang P, Wang Y. TEM investigation of U⁶⁺ and Re⁷⁺ reduction by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, a sulfate-reducing bacterium. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings. 2000;608(Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXIII):299-304.