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Isolation of an extremely acidophilic and highly efficient strain Acidithiobacillus sp. for chalcopyrite bioleaching

  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

An extremely acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium was isolated from an industrial-scale bioheap of the Zijinshan copper mine and was named ZJJN. A tuft of flagella and a layer of thick capsule outside the cell envelope were clearly observed under transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which might be closely related to the extremely acid-proof capacity of ZJJN cells in the bioleaching system; 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) phylogeny showed that the isolated strain was highly homologous to the genera of Acidithiobacillus. The optimum temperature of ZJJN was determined at 30 °C and pH at 1.0. It was capable of growth at even pH 0. Strain ZJJN can utilize reduced sulfur as an energy source but not with organics or ferrous ion. Strain ZJJN was sensitive to all antibiotics with different concentrations; when it showed a certain resistance to different concentrations of Cu2+. In the mixed strains of ZJJN and A. ferrooxidans system (initial pH 1.0), the copper-leaching efficiency was up to 60.1 %, which was far higher than other systems. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that less jarosite precipitation was produced in the most efficient system. The extremely acidophilic strain ZJJN would be of great potential in the application of chalcopyrite bioleaching.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2012AA021201), the Program of Innovation Projects Plan of Jiangsu Province (No. CXZZ11_0481), Doctor Candidate Foundation of Jiangnan University (No. JUDCF11013), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the 111 Project (No. 111-2-06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, 214122, People’s Republic of China

    Shoushuai Feng, Hailin Yang, Yu Xin, Ling Zhang, Wenliang Kang & Wu Wang

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  1. Shoushuai Feng
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  2. Hailin Yang
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  3. Yu Xin
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  4. Ling Zhang
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  5. Wenliang Kang
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  6. Wu Wang
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Correspondence to Wu Wang.

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Feng, S., Yang, H., Xin, Y. et al. Isolation of an extremely acidophilic and highly efficient strain Acidithiobacillus sp. for chalcopyrite bioleaching. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 1625–1635 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-012-1174-1

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