Although Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans are widely considered to be the microorganisms that control the rate of generation of acid mine drainage, little is known about their natural distribution and abundance. Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies showed that at Iron Mountain, California, T. ferrooxidans occurs in peripheral slime-based communities (at pH over 1....

Novel strains of obligately chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria have been isolated from various depths of Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Physiological, morphological, and phylogenetic analyses showed these strains to be related to mesophilic Thiobacillus species, such as T. thioparus. However, the psychrotolerant Antarctic isolates showed an adaptation to cold temperatures and thus shou...

Colmer, Arthur R. (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge). Relation of the iron oxidizer, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, to thiosulfate. J. Bacteriol. 83:761-765. 1962.-A restudy has been made of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans secured from the acid drainage of some northern West Virginia coal mines. Cultures isolated from ferrous iron agar and then subcultured for 85 consecutive transfers in thiosulfa...

The structure of an ornithine-containing lipid from Z’Gobacillus fhiooxidans has been elucidated. Methanolysis of the lipid released methyl cis-ll,lZ-methylene-Z-hydroxyoctadecanoate. Acid hydrolysis of the residue yielded ornithine and a mixture of fatty acids, the major components of which were 3-hydroxyhexadecanoic and 2-hexadecenoic acids. Identification of the 3-hydroxy fatty acid was base...

Response surface methodology was applied to determine the optimal medium composition for sulphuric acid production by an indigenous Thiobacillus thiooxidans. With a view to reducing the number of experiments and obtaining the mutual interactions between the variables, a 24 full-factorial central composite design was employed for experimental design and analysis of the results. Four independent ...

In acetate-limited chemostat cultures started with single-colony cultures of Thiobacillus versutus, a mutant appeared after approximately 85 volume changes. The inhomogeneity of the culture was detected by the development of two different types of colonies on agar plates. When a pure culture of the mutant was grown in a chemostat, parent colonies appeared after almost the same period of time. E...

An amino acid sequence is proposed for the cytochrome c-554(547) from the bacterium Thiobacillus neapolitanus N.C.I.B. 8539). It consists of a polypeptide chain of 91 residues, with a pair of haem-attachment cysteine residues at positions 15 and 18. There is similarity in sequence with each of the halves of the sequence of the dihaem cytochromes c4 and with a cytochrome c-554(548) from a haloph...

Different strains of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Thiobacillus thiooxidans were used to catalyze the oxidative dissolution of iron pyrite, FeS(2), in nine different coal samples. Kinetic variables and parametric factors that were determined to have a pronounced effect on the rate and extent of oxidative dissolution at a fixed Po(2) were: the bacterial strain, the nitrogen/phosphorus molar rati...

Ammonium was shown to be a limiting nutrient for iron oxidation in cultures of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. In addition, one strain was also able to assimilate nitrate, but not nitrite, for growth and coupled iron oxidation. Some amino acids (0.5 mM) were tested as a source of nitrogen; none clearly stimulated bacterial activity and inhibition was commonly encountered. Complex nitrogenous compoun...