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Evolution of copper arsenate resistance for enhanced enargite bioleaching using the extreme thermoacidophile Metallosphaera sedula

  • Genetics and Molecular Biology of Industrial Organisms - Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) was employed to isolate arsenate and copper cross-resistant strains, from the copper-resistant M. sedula CuR1. The evolved strains, M. sedula ARS50-1 and M. sedula ARS50-2, contained 12 and 13 additional mutations, respectively, relative to M. sedula CuR1. Bioleaching capacity of a defined consortium (consisting of a naturally occurring strain and a genetically engineered copper sensitive strain) was increased by introduction of M. sedula ARS50-2, with 5.31 and 26.29% more copper recovered from enargite at a pulp density (PD) of 1 and 3% (w/v), respectively. M. sedula ARS50-2 arose as the predominant species and modulated the proportions of the other two strains after it had been introduced. Collectively, the higher Cu2+ resistance trait of M. sedula ARS50-2 resulted in a modulated microbial community structure, and consolidating enargite bioleaching especially at elevated PD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE-JGI) under the Community Sequencing Program (CSP) (proposal ID 1515, project IDs 1036419, 1036422). And the University of Nebraska Cell Development Facility. This work was also financially supported by the China National Basic Research Program (No. 2010CB630901).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, People’s Republic of China

    Chenbing Ai, Yuting Liang & Guanzhou Qiu

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Beadle Center for Genetics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Room E234, 1901 Vine St., Lincoln, NE, 68588-0666, USA

    Chenbing Ai, Samuel McCarthy, Yuting Liang, Deepak Rudrappa & Paul Blum

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  1. Chenbing Ai
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Correspondence to Paul Blum.

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Ai, C., McCarthy, S., Liang, Y. et al. Evolution of copper arsenate resistance for enhanced enargite bioleaching using the extreme thermoacidophile Metallosphaera sedula . J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 44, 1613–1625 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-017-1973-5

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