Abstract
Acidithiobacillus ferridurans JAGS is a newly isolated acidophile from an acid mine drainage (AMD). The genome of isolate JAGS was sequenced and compared with eight other published genomes of Acidithiobacillus. The pairwise mutation distance (Mash) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) revealed that isolate JAGS had a close evolutionary relationship with A. ferridurans JCM18981, but whole-genome alignment showed that it had higher similarity in genomic structure with A. ferrooxidans species. Pan-genome analysis revealed that nine genomes were comprised of 4601 protein coding sequences, of which 43% were core genes (1982) and 23% were unique genes (1064). A. ferridurans species had more unique genes (205–246) than A. ferrooxidans species (21–234). Functional gene categorizations showed that A. ferridurans strains had a higher portion of genes involved in energy production and conversion while A. ferrooxidans had more for inorganic ion transport and metabolism. A high abundance of kdp, mer and ars genes, as well as mobile genetic elements, was found in isolate JAGS, which might contribute to its resistance to harsh environments. These findings expand our understanding of the evolutionary adaptation of Acidithiobacillus and indicate that A. ferridurans JAGS is a promising candidate for biomining and AMD biotreatment applications.
Highlights
IntroductionWith continually increasing concerns about acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination and the depletion of high-grade ores, innovative and sustainable methods to recover heavy metals from tailings and AMD as well as to treat AMD pollution are urgently needed [1]
With continually increasing concerns about acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination and the depletion of high-grade ores, innovative and sustainable methods to recover heavy metals from tailings and AMD as well as to treat AMD pollution are urgently needed [1].Pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes are the conventional methods for metal recovery, but they are environmentally unsustainable, with a high cost in terms of operating on low-grade ores [2,3]
Low pH values but similar levels of Fe2+ oxidation rates under high concentrations of Ni2+. These results indicated the adaptation of A. ferridurans JAGS to the acid mine drainage in Sudbury and suggested that it might be a great candidate as the ferrous oxidizer in low-pH bioleaching
Summary
With continually increasing concerns about acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination and the depletion of high-grade ores, innovative and sustainable methods to recover heavy metals from tailings and AMD as well as to treat AMD pollution are urgently needed [1]. Pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes are the conventional methods for metal recovery, but they are environmentally unsustainable, with a high cost in terms of operating on low-grade ores [2,3]. Compared with conventional and other emerging reprocessing techniques, bioleaching is considered as a simple, highly efficient, safe, low-cost, more managed and eco-friendly technique to facilitate sustainable mining and prevent AMD [3]. Direct bioleaching can be summarized as: distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
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