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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2009, p. 3641-3647, Vol. 75, No. 11
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00022-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Plutonium(V/VI) Reduction by the Metal-Reducing Bacteria Geobacter metallireducens GS-15 and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1{triangledown}

Gary A. Icopini,1,{dagger} Joe G. Lack,2 Larry E. Hersman,2 Mary P. Neu,1 and Hakim Boukhalfa1,3*

Chemistry,1 Biology,2 Earth and Environmental Sciences Divisions, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 875453

Received 6 January 2009/ Accepted 1 April 2009

We examined the ability of the metal-reducing bacteria Geobacter metallireducens GS-15 and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 to reduce Pu(VI) and Pu(V). Cell suspensions of both bacteria reduced oxidized Pu [a mixture of Pu(VI) and Pu(V)] to Pu(IV). The rate of plutonium reduction was similar to the rate of U(VI) reduction obtained under similar conditions for each bacteria. The rates of Pu(VI) and U(VI) reduction by cell suspensions of S. oneidensis were slightly higher than the rates observed with G. metallireducens. The reduced form of Pu was characterized as aggregates of nanoparticulates of Pu(IV). Transmission electron microscopy images of the solids obtained from the cultures after the reduction of Pu(VI) and Pu(V) by S. oneidensis show that the Pu precipitates have a crystalline structure. The nanoparticulates of Pu(IV) were precipitated on the surface of or within the cell walls of the bacteria. The production of Pu(III) was not observed, which indicates that Pu(IV) was the stable form of reduced Pu under these experimental conditions. Experiments examining the ability of these bacteria to use Pu(VI) as a terminal electron acceptor for growth were inconclusive. A slight increase in cell density was observed for both G. metallireducens and S. oneidensis when Pu(VI) was provided as the sole electron acceptor; however, Pu(VI) concentrations decreased similarly in both the experimental and control cultures.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Inorganic Isotope and Actinide Chemistry, MS J514, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545. Phone: (505) 667-7219. Fax: (505) 606-2258. E-mail: hakim{at}lanl.gov

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 10 April 2009.

{dagger} Present address: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, MT 59701.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2009, p. 3641-3647, Vol. 75, No. 11
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00022-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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