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Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and its potential application

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Abstract

The widely distributed Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) lives in extremely acidic conditions by fixing CO2 and nitrogen, and by obtaining energy from Fe2+ oxidation with either downhill or uphill electron transfer pathway and from reduced sulfur oxidation. A. ferrooxidans exists as different genomovars and its genome size is 2.89–4.18 Mb. The chemotactic movement of A. ferrooxidans is regulated by quorum sensing. A. ferrooxidans shows weak magnetotaxis due to formation of 15–70 nm magnetite magnetosomes with surface functional groups. The room- and low-temperature magnetic features of A. ferrooxidans are different from other magnetotactic bacteria. A. ferrooxidans has potential for removing sulfur from solids and gases, metals recycling from metal-bearing ores, electric wastes and sludge, biochemical production synthesizing, and metal workpiece machining.

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reproduced from Li et al. (2010b) with permission from Springer

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41471201, 31100006), Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (QC2014C023), University Nursing Program for Young Scholars with Creative Talents in Heilongjiang Province (UNPYSCT-2015086), Open Foundation of the Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Recycling of Argo-Waste in Cold Region (201704), Scientific Research Staring Foundation in HBAU (XZR2014-15) and Technology Program of Land Reclamation General Bureau of Heilongjiang (HNK135-04-08).

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  1. Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Recycling of Argo-Waste in Cold Region, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University (HBAU), 5 Xinfeng Road, Daqing High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Daqing, 163319, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Shuang Zhang, Lei Yan, Weijia Xing, Yu Zhang & Weidong Wang

  2. School of Pharmacy, Lanzhou University, Donggang West Road No. 199, Lanzhou, 730020, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Chen

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  1. Shuang Zhang
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  2. Lei Yan
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  3. Weijia Xing
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Correspondence to Lei Yan.

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Zhang, S., Yan, L., Xing, W. et al. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and its potential application. Extremophiles 22, 563–579 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-018-1024-9

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