Improving confirmed nanometric sulfur bioproduction using engineered Thioalkalivibrio versutus

Recent advances in microbial capture of hydrogen sulfide from sour gas via sulfur‐oxidizing bacteria

“…With further research, Sharshar et al. established precise T. versutus S 0 oxidation pathways by comparative genomics and transcriptome analysis, and 50 S 0 pathway proteins were uncovered using protein mining and transcriptome studies for finding sulfate producing genes [25]. Amongst identified S 0 proteins, genes of sulfate metabolic pathway ( sorA , soeA , soeC , and hdrB ) were an explanation for sulfate formation.…”

“…Further, whether knocking out the hdrB gene influences sulfate production was studied, and experimental results demonstrated using the Δ hdrB mutant strain, its decreasing percentage of sulfate production was 55.1%, and elevating percentage of S 0 production was 166.7% compared to the native strain while using sulfide as an energy source. Also, the Δ hdrB mutant strain grew faster than the native strain verified by its doubling time, maximum growth rate, and maximum OD 600 values [25]. As a consequence, knocking out the hdrB gene of T. versutus employing cell‐death induced CRISPR KO system is an effective and reliable strategy of improving S 0 production and lowering sulfate production, but it still demands industrial application to confirm the feasibility of the application of mutant stains.…”

“…Moreover, the major structure of bio‐S 0 is rings of 8 S‐atoms (S 8 ), which is composed of the core of S 0 with organic polymers adsorbed on the particle surface, providing steric stabilization and electrostatic repulsion against aggregation. As a result of the small size (micro‐sized and nano‐sized) and hydrophilic surface, bio‐S 0 has better applications than chemical S 0 in bioleaching and fertilizer [22–25]. Because of the size and surface of nano‐sized S 0 , it can be used for various biomedical industries.…”

“…More importantly, nanosized sulfur's price is 25 ∼ 40 fold higher than microsized S 0 due to their complicated production procedures and superior characteristics. Nanometric (>50 nm) S 0 bioproduction has been confirmed by the bioconversion of H 2 S from sour gas using Thioalkalivibrio versutus at haloalkaliphilic conditions [25]. Therefore, the BDS process is a cost‐effective and mutually beneficial strategy for producing nano‐sized S 0 and removing H 2 S from sour gas.…”

Development of whole-cell catalyst system for sulfide biotreatment based on the engineered haloalkaliphilic bacterium

“…It has been established that the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) level in Thioalkalivibrio versutus D301 promoted thiosulfate oxidation (Mu et al 2017 ). The production of nanometric sulfur from sulfide was enhanced by 166.7 % in another T. versutus D301 mutant in which the conversion of sulfur to sulfate was blocked by deleting the critical hdrB gene (Sharshar et al 2020 ). Concisely, it displays remarkable advantages for sulfide removal.…”