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Application of capillary electrophoresis combined with conductometric and UV detection to monitor meteorite simulant bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
Author(s) -
Gonçalves Silva Gabriel,
Yamassaki de Almeida Eiji,
Seber Pedro,
Henrique Settanni Pedro,
Pereira de Oliveira Aline,
Ferreira Santos Mauro Sergio,
Lucio do Lago Claudimir,
Cieslarova Zuzana,
Rodrigues Fabio
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201800212
Subject(s) - bioleaching , meteorite , capillary electrophoresis , acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans , chemistry , microorganism , chromatography , nuclear chemistry , bacteria , astrobiology , copper , geology , biology , paleontology , organic chemistry
Abstract The importance of microorganisms and biotechnology in space exploration and future planets colonization has been discussed in the literature. Meteorites are interesting samples to study microbe–mineral interaction focused on space exploration. The chemolithotropic bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans has been used as model to understand the iron and sulfur oxidation. In this work, capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection and UV detection was used to monitor bacterial growth in a meteorite simulant by measuring the conversion of Fe 2+ into Fe +3 . The effect of Co 2+ and Ni 2+ (metals also found in meteorites) on the bacterial growth was also evaluated. The presented method allowed the analyses of all metals in a single run (less than 8 min). The background electrolyte was composted of 10 mmol/L α‐hydroxyisobutyric acid/Histidine. For comparison purpose, the samples were also analyzed by UV‐Vis spectrophotometry. The Fe 2+ conversion into Fe 3+ by A. ferrooxidans was observed up to 36 h with the growth rate constant of 0.19/h and 0.21/h in Tuovinen and Kelly (T&K) and in meteorite simulant media, respectively. The developed method presents favorable prospect to monitor the growth of other chemolithotropic microorganisms for biotechnology applications.