Surface Chemistry of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans Relevant to Adhesion on Mineral Surfaces

Devasia, Preston and Natarajan, KA and Sathyanarayana, DN and Rao, Ramananda G (1993) Surface Chemistry of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans Relevant to Adhesion on Mineral Surfaces. In: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 59 (12). 4051-4055 .

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Abstract

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans cells grown on sulfur, pyrite, and chalcopyrite exhibit greater hydrophobicity than ferrous ion-grown cells. The isoelectric points of sulfur-, pyrite-, and chalcopyrite-grown cells were observed to be at a pH higher than that for ferrous ion-grown cells. Microbe-mineral interactions result in change in the surface chemistry of the organism as well as that of the minerals with which it has interacted. Sulfur, pyrite, and chalcopyrite after interaction with T. ferrooxidans exhibited a significant shift in their isoelectric points from the initial values exhibited by uninteracted minerals. With antibodies raised against sulfur-grown T. ferrooxidans, pyrite- and chalcopyrite-grown cells showed immunoreactivity, whereas ferrous ion-grown cells failed to do so. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of sulfur-grown cells suggested that a proteinaceous new cell surface appendage synthesized in mineral-grown cells brings about adhesion to the solid mineral substrates. Such an appendage was found to be absent in ferrous ion-grown cells as it is not required during growth in liquid substrates.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Publisher:	American Society for Microbiology
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Society for Microbiology.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Microbiology & Cell Biology Division of Chemical Sciences > Inorganic & Physical Chemistry Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	11 Mar 2011 07:07
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2011 07:07
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/35848

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