Metabolism-dependent bioaccumulation of uranium by Rhodosporidium toruloides isolated from the flooding water of a former uranium mine

Remediation of former uranium mining sites represents one of the biggest challenges worldwide that have to be solved in this century. During the last years, the search of alternative strategies involving environmentally sustainable treatments has started. Bioremediation, the use of microorganisms to clean up polluted sites in the environment, is considered one the best alternative. By means of culture-dependent methods, we isolated an indigenous yeast strain, KS5 (Rhodosporidium toruloides), directly from the flooding water of a former uranium mining site and investigated its interactions with uranium. Our results highlight distinct adaptive mechanisms towards high uranium concentrations on the one hand, and complex interaction mechanisms on the other. The cells of the strain KS5 exhibit high a uranium tolerance, being able to grow at 6 mM, and also a high ability to accumulate this radionuclide (350 mg uranium/g dry biomass, 48 h). The removal of uranium by KS5 displays a temperature- and cell viability-dependent process, indicating that metabolic activity could be involved. By STEM (scanning transmission electron microscopy) investigations, we observed that uranium was removed by two mechanisms, active bioaccumulation and inactive biosorption. This study highlights the potential of KS5 as a representative of indigenous species within the flooding water of a former uranium mine, which may play a key role in bioremediation of uranium contaminated sites.This work was supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung grand nº 02NUK030F (TransAqua). Further support took place by the ERDF-co-financed Grants CGL2012-36505 and 315 CGL2014-59616R, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain

SURFACE COMPLEXATION OF ACTINIDES WITH IRON OXIDES: IMPLICATIONS FOR RADIONUCLIDE TRANSPORT IN NEAR-SURFACE AQUIFERS

The surface complexation of actinides with iron oxides plays a key role in actinide transport and retardation in geosphere-biosphere systems. The development of accurate actinide transport models therefore requires a mechanistic understanding of surface complexation reactions (i.e. knowledge of chemical speciation at mineral/fluid interfaces). Iron oxides are particularly important actinide sorbents due to their pH dependent surface charges, relatively high surface areas and ubiquity in oxic and suboxic near-surface systems. In this paper we present results from field and laboratory investigations that elucidate the mechanisms involved in binding uranium and neptunium to iron oxide mineral substrates in near neutral groundwaters. The field study involved sampling and characterizing uranium-bearing groundwaters and solids from a saprolite aquifer overlying an unmined uranium deposit in the Virginia Piedmont. The groundwaters were analyzed by inductively coupled mass spectrometry and ion chromatography and the aquifer solids were analyzed by electron microprobe. The laboratory study involved a series of batch sorption tests in which U(VI) and Np(V) were reacted with goethite, hematite and magnetite in simulated groundwaters. The pH, ionic strength, aging time, and sorbent/sorbate ratios were varied in these experiments. The oxidation state and coordination environment of neptunium in solutions and sorbents from the batch tests were characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Results from this work indicate that, in oxidizing near-surface aquifers, the dissolved concentration of uranium may be limited to less than 30 parts per billion due to uptake by iron oxide mineral coatings and the precipitation of sparingly soluble U(VI) phosphate minerals. Results from the batch adsorption tests showed that, in near neutral groundwaters, a significant fraction of the uranium and neptunium adsorbed as strongly bound surface complexes that were not removed (desorbed) when the sorbents were resuspended in dilute groundwater. The XAS results indicate that at pH 7.0-8.0 neptunium adsorbs to goethite as a neptunyl(V) complex and to magnetite as an inner-sphere Np(lV) complex with a Np-Fe distance of approximately 3.5 angstroms. These findings demonstrate that the presence of iron oxides in oxidizing near-surface aquifers may significantly retard actinide transport and that future reactive-transport models for actinides should therefore account for irreversible sorption processes

Effects of the mycorrhizal fungus ¤Glomus intraradices¤ on uranium uptake and accumulation by ¤Medicago truncatula¤ L. from uranium-contaminated soil

Phytostabilization strategies may be suitable to reduce the dispersion of uranium (U) and the overall environmental risks of U-contaminated soils. The role of Glomus intraradices, an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus, in such phytostabilization of U was investigated with a compartmented plant cultivation system facilitating the specific measurement of U uptake by roots, AM roots and extraradical hyphae of AM fungi and the measurement of U partitioning between root and shoot. A soil-filled plastic pot constituted the main root compartment (C-A) which contained a plastic vial filled with U-contaminated soil amended with 0, 50 or 200 mg KH2PO4-P kg(-1) soil (C-B). The vial was sealed by coarse or fine nylon mesh, permitting the penetration of both roots and hyphae or of just hyphae. Medicago truncatula plants grown in C-A were inoculated with G. intraradices or remained uninoculated. Dry weight of shoots and roots in C-A was significantly increased by G. intraradices, but was unaffected by mesh size or by P application in C-B. The P amendments decreased root colonization in C-B, and increased P content and dry weight of those roots. Glomus intraradices increased root U concentration and content in C-A, but decreased shoot U concentrations. Root U concentrations and contents were significantly higher when only hyphae could access U inside C-B than when roots could also directly access this U pool. The proportion of plant U content partitioned to shoots was decreased by root exclusion from C-B and by mycorrhizas (M) in the order: no M, roots in C-B > no M, no roots in C-B > M, roots in C-B > M, no roots in C-B. Such mycorrhiza-induced retention of U in plant roots may contribute to the phytostabilization of U contaminated environments