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Gold particle geomicrobiology: Using viable bacteria as a model for understanding microbe–mineral interactions

Part of: Frank Reith memorial issue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2021

Santonu Kumar Sanyal  and
Jeremiah Shuster Open the ORCID record for Jeremiah Shuster [Opens in a new window]
Santonu Kumar Sanyal*
Affiliation:
The University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia5005, Australia Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life and Earth Sciences, Jagannath University, Dhaka-1100, Bangladesh
Jeremiah Shuster*
Affiliation:
The University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia5005, Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization: Land and Water, Environmental Protection and Technologies Team, Waite Road PMB2, Urrbrae, South Australia5064, Australia
*
*Authors for correspondence: Santonu Kumar Sanyal, Email: santonu@mib.jnu.ac.bd; Jeremiah Shuster, Email: jeremiah.shuster@adelaide.edu.au
*Authors for correspondence: Santonu Kumar Sanyal, Email: santonu@mib.jnu.ac.bd; Jeremiah Shuster, Email: jeremiah.shuster@adelaide.edu.au
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Abstract

The biogeochemical cycling of gold has been proposed from studies focusing on gold particle morphology, surface textures and associated bacteria living on the surface of gold particles. Additionally, it has been suggested that metabolically active bacteria on particles catalyse gold dissolution and gold re-precipitation processes, i.e. fluid–bacterial–mineral interaction within microenvironments surrounding particles. Therefore, the isolation and characterisation of viable bacteria from gold particles can be used as a model to improve the understanding of bacterial–gold interactions. In this study, classical microbiology methods were used to isolate a gold-tolerant bacterium (Acinetobacter sp. SK-43) directly from gold particles. The genome of this isolate contained diverse (laterally acquired) heavy-metal resistance genes and stress tolerance genes, suggesting that gene expression would confer resistance to a wide range of potentially toxic metals that could occur in the surrounding microenvironment. The presence of these genes, along with genes for nutrient cycling under nutrient-limited conditions highlights the genomic capacity of how Acinetobacter sp. SK-43 could survive on gold particles and remain viable. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that this isolate could grow in the presence of soluble gold up to 20 μM (AuCl3) and that >50% of soluble gold was reduced upon exposure. Collectively, these results suggest that Acinetobacter sp. SK-43 (and presumably similar bacteria) could survive the cytotoxic effects of soluble Au from particles undergoing dissolution. This study provides comprehensive insight on the possible bacterial contributions to gold biogeochemical cycling in natural environments.

Keywords

gold particlebiogeochemistryviable bacteriaAcinetobacter spmicrobe–mineral interaction
Type
Article - Frank Reith memorial issue
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 117 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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Footnotes

This paper is part of a thematic set in memory of Frank Reith

Guest Associate Editor: Janice Kenney

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