Biomineralization of Uranium and Nanocluster Formation by Microorganisms

Bacteria and archaea are the most ubiquitous organisms in terrestrial and aquatic environments. They play a major role in deposition and weathering of a large variety of minerals enriched with or consisting mainly of different metals, such as iron, manganese, copper, gold, and even radionuclides (e.g. uranium). The structure of biologically synthesized minerals is strongly influenced by the metabolic properties of the bacterial or archaeal strains involved in their production and also by the different metal binding potential of their cell wall components.
The talk will focus on cell wall dependent accumulation and biomineralization of uranium by particular Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria recovered from uranium mining wastes. By using TEM, EXAFS and TRLF we were able to demonstrate that the Gram-negative and most of the Gram-positive bacteria inhabiting the oligotrophic uranium mining waste pile soils immobilize U(VI) at their cell walls or extracellularly in a form of uranyl phosphate compounds. Particular Gram-positive isolates, possessing highly ordered proteinaceous surface layers (S-layers), are immobilizing U(VI) by both phosphate groups from their peptidoglycan and also by the carboxylic groups of the aspartate and glutamate stretches of their S-layers.
In addition, the cell wall supported formation of metallic palladium and gold nano-clusters by some bacteria and archaea will be presented. Despite of the different mechanisms of the biological deposition of Pd by Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, the nanoparticles formed by both had almost identical size and catalytic activity. The Au nanoclusters formed by bacteria and archaea had significantly different physical properties.