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Aerobic bioreduction of nickel(II) to elemental nickel with concomitant biomineralization

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Although microorganisms have the potential to reduce metals, products with elementary forms are unusual. In the present study, a strain of Pseudomonas sp. MBR was tested for its ability to reduce metal ions to their elementary forms coupled to biomineralization under aerobic conditions. The Pseudomonas sp. MBR strain was able to reduce metals such as Fe(III), Mn(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Al(III), Se(IV), and Te(IV) as electron acceptors to elementary forms using citrate, lactate, pyruvate, succinate, malate, glucose, or ethanol as electron donors. Growth and reduction during biomineralization occurred within the pH range of 6.0 to 11.0 and temperature range of 4 to 40 °C, with an optimum growth temperature of 28 °C. The resistance of Ni(II) varied from 0.5 to 5 mM. Ni(II) reduction was still observed when nitrate was present in addition to oxygen as a potential electron acceptor. The Ni(II) reduction efficiency was related with the molar ratio of the electron donor to Ni(II). Unlike other dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria, which oxidizes organic matter with Fe(III) or Mn(IV) as the sole electron acceptor coupled to energy production under facultative anaerobic conditions, this strain used oxygen as an electron acceptor combined with metal reduction. The aerobic metal reduction may relate to a co-metabolic reduction. Transmission electron microscopy images demonstrated that the cells had the ability to accumulate heavy metals, and that the detoxicity mechanism was intracellular metal reduction. These results suggested that the use of Pseudomonas sp. MBR could be promising for toxic heavy metal bioremediation and biological metallurgy.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 51074149 and 31000070). The authors gratefully acknowledge the Analysis and Testing Center Chengdu Branch, Chinese Academy of Sciences for the XPS analyses, as well as the Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources for the SEM/EDS analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied Microbiology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 9 South Renmin Road, 4th Section, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China

    Guoqiang Zhan, Daping Li & Liang Zhang

  2. Environmental Microbiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Guoqiang Zhan, Daping Li & Liang Zhang

  3. Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Guoqiang Zhan & Liang Zhang

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  1. Guoqiang Zhan
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  2. Daping Li
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Correspondence to Daping Li.

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Zhan, G., Li, D. & Zhang, L. Aerobic bioreduction of nickel(II) to elemental nickel with concomitant biomineralization. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 96, 273–281 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3827-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3827-9

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