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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2003, p. 5884-5891, Vol. 69, No. 10
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.10.5884-5891.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Stimulating the In Situ Activity of Geobacter Species To Remove Uranium from the Groundwater of a Uranium-Contaminated Aquifer

Robert T. Anderson,1* Helen A. Vrionis,1 Irene Ortiz-Bernad,1 Charles T. Resch,2 Philip E. Long,2 Richard Dayvault,3 Ken Karp,4 Sam Marutzky,3 Donald R. Metzler,5 Aaron Peacock,6 David C. White,7 Mary Lowe,8 and Derek R. Lovley1

Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003,1 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352,2 S. M. Stoller Corporation, Lafayette, Colorado 80026,3 MFG, Inc., Boulder, Colorado 80301,4 U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction, Colorado 81503,5 Microbial Insights, Rockford, Tennessee 37853,6 Center for Biomarker Analysis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932,7 Department of Physics, Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland 212108

Received 16 April 2003/ Accepted 16 July 2003

The potential for removing uranium from contaminated groundwater by stimulating the in situ activity of dissimilatory metal-reducing microorganisms was evaluated in a uranium-contaminated aquifer located in Rifle, Colo. Acetate (1 to 3 mM) was injected into the subsurface over a 3-month period via an injection gallery composed of 20 injection wells, which was installed upgradient from a series of 15 monitoring wells. U(VI) concentrations decreased in as little as 9 days after acetate injection was initiated, and within 50 days uranium had declined below the prescribed treatment level of 0.18 µM in some of the monitoring wells. Analysis of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences and phospholipid fatty acid profiles demonstrated that the initial loss of uranium from the groundwater was associated with an enrichment of Geobacter species in the treatment zone. Fe(II) in the groundwater also increased during this period, suggesting that U(VI) reduction was coincident with Fe(III) reduction. As the acetate injection continued over 50 days there was a loss of sulfate from the groundwater and an accumulation of sulfide and the composition of the microbial community changed. Organisms with 16S rDNA sequences most closely related to those of sulfate reducers became predominant, and Geobacter species became a minor component of the community. This apparent switch from Fe(III) reduction to sulfate reduction as the terminal electron accepting process for the oxidation of the injected acetate was associated with an increase in uranium concentration in the groundwater. These results demonstrate that in situ bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater is feasible but suggest that the strategy should be optimized to better maintain long-term activity of Geobacter species.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Massachusetts, Dept. of Microbiology, Morrill Science Center IVN, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-1391. Fax: (413) 545-1578. E-mail: rtanders{at}microbio.umass.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2003, p. 5884-5891, Vol. 69, No. 10
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.10.5884-5891.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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