Evaluation the effect of uranium ore concentrations on the cyc2 gene expression in the mutated Acidithiobacillus sp. FJ2

Abstract

Introduction: The uranium bioleaching process is performed using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. This bacterium is capable of iron oxidation by an electron transport chain. One of the most important components of this chain is the cyc2 gene product that involved in the oxidation process of iron. Materials and methods: Evaluation of UV mutated (60, 120 and 180s) Acidithiobacillus sp. FJ2 cyc2gene in the presence of uranium ore concentrations, has been implemented in this project. For this purpose, the original and mutated bacteria were cultivated in the presence of uranium ore concentrations (5, 10, 15, 25 and 50%). Uranium extraction, variation of pH and Eh values were measured at 24 h intervals. Then, when the uranium extraction yield reached to 100%, gene expressions of cyc2 original and mutatedAcidithiobacillus sp. FJ2 were analyzed using Real-time PCR method. Results: The results of the experiments showed that, with increasing pulp density, the uranium extraction rate and oxidation activity of bacteria were reduced. In addition, the result of cyc2 gene expression showed that the target gene expression increases in the presence of uranium ore compared to sample with absence of uranium ore, andwith further increase of pulp density, due to the toxicity of uranium, shows a decreasing trend. Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the mutation in the bacterium has a positive effect on the uranium bioleaching process, which can play an important role in the process of uranium bioleaching at high concentrations. In addition, with increasing pulp density due to uranium toxicity, there is a decreasing trend in the process of uranium extraction, which indicates the important role of this factor in the uranium bioleaching process