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Appl Environ Microbiol, June 1998, p. 2181-2186, Vol. 64, No. 6
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Reduction of Soluble Iron and Reductive Dissolution
of Ferric Iron-Containing Minerals by Moderately Thermophilic
Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria
Toni A. M.
Bridge
and
D. Barrie
Johnson*
School of Biological Sciences, University of
Wales, Bangor, LL57 2UW, United Kingdom
Received 29 December 1997/Accepted 24 March 1998
Five moderately thermophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria, including
representative strains of the three classified species
(Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans, Sulfobacillus
acidophilus, and Acidimicrobium ferrooxidans), were
shown to be capable of reducing ferric iron to ferrous iron when they
were grown under oxygen limitation conditions. Iron reduction was most
readily observed when the isolates were grown as mixotrophs or
heterotrophs with glycerol as an electron donor; in addition, some
strains were able to couple the oxidation of tetrathionate to the
reduction of ferric iron. Cycling of iron between the ferrous and
ferric states was observed during batch culture growth in unshaken
flasks incubated under aerobic conditions, although the patterns of
oxidoreduction of iron varied in different species of iron-oxidizing
moderate thermophiles and in strains of a single species (S. acidophilus). All three bacterial species were able to grow
anaerobically with ferric iron as a sole electron acceptor; the growth
yields correlated with the amount of ferric iron reduced when the
isolates were grown in the absence of oxygen. One of the moderate
thermophiles (identified as a strain of S. acidophilus) was
able to bring about the reductive dissolution of three ferric
iron-containing minerals (ferric hydroxide, jarosite, and goethite)
when it was grown under restricted aeration conditions with glycerol as
a carbon and energy source. The significance of iron reduction by
moderately thermophilic iron oxidizers in both environmental and
applied contexts is discussed.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of
Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, LL57 2UW, United
Kingdom. Phone: 44 1248 382358. Fax: 44 1248 370731. E-mail:
d.b.johnson{at}bangor.ac.uk.

Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of
Dundee, Tayside, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom.
Appl Environ Microbiol, June 1998, p. 2181-2186, Vol. 64, No. 6
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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