The increase of metabolic activity in biofilms caused by uranium

Most surface and subsurface environments are inhabited by microorganisms, which do not usually occur as single individual cells in nature but rather in multicellular communities called biofilms. Such biofilms attached to mineral surfaces may considerably influence the migration of toxic and/or radioactive heavy metals in contaminated environments. In our studies multispecies biofilms, which were cultured in air atmosphere on glass slides in biofilm reactors were exposed to uranium in ecologically relevant concentrations, i.e. a total U concentration of 1×10-5 mol/l and 5×10-6 M, respectively. The resulting response of the microbial biofilm community to the added uranium was studied by oxygen microsensors in biofilms. In addition staining methods such as CTC and the DNA-binding DAPI were used in combination with confocal laser microscopy (CLSM). The results reveal that the addition of uranium in ecologically relevant concentrations to stable biofilms has a strong effect on the oxygen concentration and consumption rates in biofilms due to a stimulation of the metabolism of the microbes and, consequently, on their respiratory activity and oxygen consumption. The addition of uranium (VI) in ecologically relevant concentrations (1×10-5 M and 1×10-6 M) to stable multispecies biofilms induced a fast decrease of the oxygen concentration with increasing biofilm depth, which is dependent on the uranium concentration. The microbial response to the addition of uranium occurred within two to three hours and resulted in oxygen concentration profiles similar to the profiles measured three weeks after the uranium addition.