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Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidansis a commonly used bacterial species for leaching gold ores to recover gold. The pH ofA. ferrooxidansbioleachates drastically changes from around 2.0 during bioleaching to about pH 8.0 as the cells are discharged together with the mine tailings containing high levels of Hg. It is not known how such a large pH shock would affect the properties of bacterial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and the transport of Hg in the mine tailings. In this study, the biochemical composition, molecular distribution, fluorescence properties and Hg(II) complexation by EPS ofA. ferrooxidanscultured at pH 2 and 8 were investigated. It was found that pH shock significantly altered the composition of EPS.A. ferrooxidansyielded more EPS under acid conditions than basic conditions. The acidic EPS contained more macromolecular proteins but less polysaccharide in comparison with the basic EPS. Phosphodiester functional groups in phospholipids and polysaccharides were found in the acidic EPS but not in the basic EPS. One tryptophan protein-like peak and one aromatic protein-like peak were identified in fluorescence spectra of the acidic EPS. Two aromatic protein-like peaks were identified from the fluorescence spectra of the basic EPS. The tryptophan protein-like substances in the acidic EPS interacted with Hg(II) and formed relatively stable complexes but with weak binding ability whereas the fluorescent aromatic protein-like substances in the acidic EPS did not bind Hg(II). However the aromatic protein-like substances in the basic EPS had a strong binding ability for Hg(II). The significant differences in composition and Hg complexation ability between EPS from acidic and basic environments indicate that a large pH shock during leaching of gold may exert a considerable impact on the behavior and fate of Hg in the mining areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) nanoparticles are often synthesized by anaerobes. However, anaerobic bacteria cannot be directly applied for bioremediation of contaminated top soil which is generally aerobic. In this study, a selenite-reducing bacterium, Citrobacter freundii Y9, demonstrated high selenite reducing power and produced elemental nano-selenium nanoparticles (nano-Se 0 ) under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The biogenic nano-Se 0 converted 45.8–57.1% and 39.1–48.6% of elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) in the contaminated soil to insoluble mercuric selenide (HgSe) under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively. Addition of sodium dodecyl sulfonate enhanced Hg 0 remediation, probably owing to the release of intracellular nano-Se 0 from the bacterial cells for Hg fixation. The reaction product after remediation was identified as non-reactive HgSe that was formed by amalgamation of nano-Se 0 and Hg 0 . Biosynthesis of nano-Se 0 both aerobically and anaerobically therefore provides a versatile and cost-effective remediation approach for Hg 0 -contaminated surface and subsurface soils, where the redox potential often changes dramatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]