HR: 10:50h
AN: B12A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Rates of microbial sulfate reduction control the sizes of biogenic iron sulfide aggregates
AU: * Jin, Q
EM: qjin@berkeley.edu
AF: University of California, 307 McCone Hall #4767 Berkeley, CA 94720, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AB: Sulfide minerals occur widely in freshwater and marine sediments as byproducts of microbial sulfate reduction and as end products of heavy metal bioremediation. They form when metals in the environments combine with sulfide produced from the metabolism of sulfate reducing bacteria. We used chemostat bioreactors to study sizes and crystal structures of iron sulfide (FeS) minerals produced by Desulfovibrio vulgaris, D. desulfuricans strain G20, and subspecies desulfuricans. FeS nanoparticles and their aggregates are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). FeS nanoparticles produced by sulfate reducing bacteria are extremely small, usually less than around 10 nm in diameter. Nanoparticles do not occur as individual nanoparticles, but as aggregates. The sizes of FeS aggregates are affected by sulfate reduction rates, Fe(II) concentration, pH, ionic strength, organic matter concentration, bacterial species, etc. Aggregate size ranges from about 500 nm at very large sulfate reduction rates to about 1,500 nm at very small rates. Variations in Fe(II) concentration also lead to a difference up to 500 nm in FeS aggregate size. Different bacterial species produce nanoparticle aggregates of different sizes under similar growth conditions. For example, D. vulgaris produces FeS aggregates with sizes 500 nm smaller than those by strain G20. The inverse relationship between FeS aggregate sizes and sulfate reduction rates is important in evaluating metal bioremediation strategies. Previous approaches have focused on stimulating microbial activities in natural environments. However, our experimental results suggest that increasing metabolic rates may decrease the aggregate size, increasing the mobility of colloidal aggregates. Therefore, the balance between microbial activities and sizes of biogenic aggregates may be an important consideration in the design and optimization of bioremediation strategies.
DE: 0400 BIOGEOSCIENCES
DE: 0419 Biomineralization
DE: 0448 Geomicrobiology
DE: 0463 Microbe/mineral interactions
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005