Abstract
Sporosarcina ureae was able to grow in the presence of up to 10-ppm L-asparagine complexed gold. However, 10 ppm Au3+ was found to be highly toxic to Sporosarcina ureae, killing 109 bacteria/mL within a few seconds. To compare the effects of these responses on gold mobility, an in vitro bacterial biofilm model was developed to examine the interaction between Sporosarcina ureae and ionic gold or L-asparagine gold complexes in gravity-fed columns. The immobilization of ionic gold was between 80% and 90% over a period of one week. But, as the available cellular reactive sites became saturated, immobilization decreased to 14% within two weeks. In the L-asparagine-gold system, gold immobilization in the cytoplasm occurred at a high rate (80% to 90%) throughout the experiment, with limited toxicity towards Sporosarcina ureae. The bacterial immobilization and detoxification of L-asparagine-complexed ionic gold was associated with a low molecular weight, i.e, <5,000 dalton (atomic mass unit), intracellular protein fraction. This peptide-complexed gold would allow for the continued biogeochemical cycling of gold under ambient (<100°C) surface or near-surface conditions.
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Southam, G., Fyfe, W.S. & Beveridge, T.J. Immobilization of free ionic gold and L-asparagine-complexed ionic gold by Sporosarcina ureae: The importance of organo-gold complexes in gold mobility. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 17, 129–132 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402840
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402840