Bacterial biomineralization: New insights from Myxococcus induced mineral precipitation

There is growing evidence showing that bacteria have contributed to the formation of minerals since the advent of life on Earth. Bacterial biomineralization thus appears to be crucial for the complex interactions of biological, chemical, and physical processes which drive modern and ancient biogeochemical cycles. On the other hand, the technological and environmental applications of bacterial mineralization are now being demonstrated to be far reaching. Despite the numerous efforts to better understand how bacteria induce/mediate or control mineralization, our current knowledge is far from complete. Considering that the number of recent publications on bacterial biomineralization has been overwhelming, here we attempt to show the importance of bacteria-mineral interactions by focusing in a single bacterial genus, Myxococcus, which displays an unusual capacity of producing mineral precipitates of varying compositions and morphologies. The first part of this review presents an overview of the recent history of bacterial mineralization, and briefly describes the most common bacteriogenic minerals as well as current models on bacterial biomineralization. The second part presents a description of myxobacteria. Myxococcus induced precipitation of a number of phosphates, carbonates, sulphates, chlorides, oxalates, and silicates is described and discussed in lieu of the information presented in the first part. Finally, implications of bacterial mineralization and perspectives for future research are outlined. This review strives to show that the mechanisms which control bacterial biomineralization are not mineral- or bacterial-specific. On the contrary, they appear to be universal and depend on the environment in which bacteria dwell.