Isolation and identification of native sulfuroxidizing bacterium capable of uranium extraction

Document Type : Original Research Papers

Authors

1 Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, I.R. Iran

2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Bioleaching is the extraction of metals from their ores through the use of microorganisms. In
this process, the use of native bacteria leads to achieve more yields of metals. So, in the present
study, native sulfur-oxidizing bacterium in potentiality of uranium extraction was isolated from
Ghachin mine in Iran and identified by partial gene sequencing. For this purpose, the water
samples were collected from Ghachin mine and cultivated in Starkey medium. In following, the
isolate was inoculated into individual Starkey plates and incubated until the colonies indicating
the purified bacterium appeared. Then, the identification was carried out based on phenotypic
characteristics and 16s rDNA sequencing. After that, bioleaching of uranium experiments
carried out using uranium ore at 2.5 and 5% pulp densities. The result showed that after 15 days
of incubation, the bacteria in the fresh samples was grown. Following 5-7 days of the plate's
incubation, we obtained the single purified colonies of the bacteria. On the basis of 16s rDNA
nucleotide sequencing, the bacteria showed 99.71% similarity to A. thiooxidans ATCC 19377.
Besides, the bioleaching experiments indicated that the bacterium is capable of uranium
extraction in 2.5 and 5% pulp densities during 3 and 5 days. In conclusion, in this study, for the
first time, we isolated the native sulfur-oxidizing bacterium capable of uranium extraction, from
uranium mine of Gachin in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Keywords

Main Subjects


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