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| Titel |
Possible role of Rhodotorula sp. in the formation of jarosite in the AMD environment of Muskau Arch, Poland |
| VerfasserIn |
Natalia Jakus, Andrzej Chlebicki, Piotr Bożęcki, Maciej Manecki |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250128232
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-8201.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Muskau Arch is situated in the west of Poland and in the east of Germany. This region is
a belt formed by push and frontal moraines during the Middle-Polish (Riss) glaciation,
especially during the Wartanian glaciation. The occurrence of glacier caused folding and
forming the glacitectonic type of lignit deposits which were mined for over 150 years. Both
open pit and underground mining methods has exposed metal sulfides (mainly pyrite)
to air and water causing bio-oxidation. Due to this process the acidity of many
reservoirs have increased significantly (pH values between 2 and 4). As a consequence
of changes in the environment, new mineral phases precipitated from highly acid
waters rich in, among others, various forms of Fe and S. Precipitation of ochreous
minerals such as schwertmannite, goethite and jarosite was partly catalyzed by many
various acidophilic and acid-tolerant microorganisms: bacteria, archaea and probably
yeasts.
Jarosite KFe33+(OH)6(SO4)2 can be precipitated both in abiotic conditions and as a
by-product of the activity of living organisms. The example of biomineralization
induced by fungi Purpureocillium lilacinum in similar AMD environment of Rio
Tinto is reported (Oggerin et al, 2014). Recently, jarosite is also considered as a
possible biosignature of life on Mars. The assessment of microbial participation in
formation of jarosite is an elementary step in geomicrobiological and astrobiological
research.
Isolated by us Rhodotorula sp. is an unicellular pigmented yeast. Fungi from the genus
Rhodotorula F.C. Harrison belong to Sporidiobolalas part of phylum Basidiomycota. They
are common environmental inhabitants. Some species, known from Rio Tinto, can live in
extreme acidic soils at pH of about 2 (Lopez-Archila et al, 2004). For the first time, authors
isolated strain Rhodotorula sp. from surface precipitates in Ł ęknica region (Muskau Arch).
This ochreous precipitate contains jarosite. The yeast might be an important factor in indirect
enzymatic catalysis of the oxidation of pyrite. Jarosite precipitates from solution
containing sulphate, possibly product of active enzymatic oxidation of sulphur
compounds by Rhodotorula. As a result of this investigation a model of sulphur
transformation mediated by Rhodotorula in AMD environment and its role in precipitation of
jarosite was proposed. This work is partially funded by AGH research grant no
11.11.140.319.
López-Archilla, A., González, A., Terrón, M., Amils, R. 2004. Ecological study of the
fungal populations of the acidic Tinto River in southwestern Spain. Canadian Journal of
Microbiology, 50 (11), 923-934.
Oggerin, M., Rodriguez, N., del Moral, C., Amils, R. 2014. Fungal jarosite
biomineralization in Rio Tinto. Research in Microbiology. 165, 719-725. |
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