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Bacteria of the Genus Shewanella from Radionuclide-Contaminated Groundwater

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Abstract

Decommissioned surface repositories of liquid radioactive waste remain a potential source of groundwater pollution. Establishment of biogeochemical barriers results in decreased migration of both radioactive and toxic macro-components of the waste. The article presents the results of studying the composition of the microbial community of groundwater sampled in the area of a surface repository for liquid radioactive waste. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes revealed the dominant and minor components of the community, among which were found bacteria of the genus Shewanella. Isolated pure cultures of Shewanella putrefaciens J1-6-2-2 and A-4-3 and Shewanella xiamenensis DCB2-1 were capable of reducing nitrate ions to dinitrogen, which resulted in a decrease in the redox potential of the medium and contributed to reduction and deposition of pertechnetate, uranyl, and chromate ions. In the presence of organic substrates the strains formed biofilms on a number of natural materials (vermiculite, pearlite, schungite, etc.) with high sorption characteristics for cesium, strontium, uranium, and technetium. Analysis of the genome of strain DCB2-1 revealed a cluster of genes homologous to those determining biofilm formation in the well-known strain Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. The isolated strains may be used for introduction into subsurface horizons and enrichment of the natural microbial community in order to create a biogeochemical barrier for purification of groundwater from nitrate ions and immobilization of radioactive waste components.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Analytical measurements were carried out using the equipment available at the Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Research Center of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 17-17-01212; biofilm research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 16-03-00153); bioinformatic analysis of the genome, experiments on radionuclide reduction, maintenance of the culture collection, and phenotype research were supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117312, Moscow, Russia

    T. L. Babich, D. S. Grouzdev & T. N. Nazina

  2. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Safonov, N. D. Andryuschenko & E. V. Zakharova

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  1. T. L. Babich
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  2. A. V. Safonov
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  6. T. N. Nazina
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Correspondence to T. N. Nazina.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies involving animals or human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Translated by P. Sigalevich

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Babich, T.L., Safonov, A.V., Grouzdev, D.S. et al. Bacteria of the Genus Shewanella from Radionuclide-Contaminated Groundwater. Microbiology 88, 613–623 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261719040039

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