Concurrent biomineralization of silver ions into Ag0 and AgxO by Leptolyngbya strain JSC-1 and the establishment of its axenic culture

Abstract

Ionic silver is a potential hazard to aquatic life forms because of the increasing usage of silver based materials. The need for developing a sustainable and ecofriendly process to minimize the toxic effects of the free ions burden is now a scientific consensus. Therefore, we report the latest results in cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya JSC-1 investigating the tolerance towards toxic doses of silver, its extracellular biomineralization and silver nano-deposits formation inside the cells, and speculate about potential environmental impacts. In this study, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis reveal the extracellular biomineralization of soluble silver (1–100 μM) into corresponding nanoparticles (50–100 nm in diameter) by JSC-1, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) examination divulged the presence of both Ag+ and Ag0 in extracellularly biomineralized silver, depicting a mixture of both AgxO and elemental Ag. The scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), EDS and elemental mapping visualized the formation of intracellular silver nanoparticles. Moreover, this feature of silver tolerance in JSC-1 was further exploited and a novel protocol was developed for isolation and maintenance of axenic culture of this filamentous cyanobacterium. Consequently, this capability of silver biomineralization by JSC-1, both extra- and intra-cellularly might be useful for modeling the Ag resistance mechanism in cyanobacteria and also might be a sustainable alternative for heavy metals bioremediation in aquatic environments.