Molecular genetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Molecular aspects of the electron transfer system which participates in the oxidation of ferrous ion by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

“…The elucidation of the oxidation mechanisms by the bacterium of Fe 2÷ and sulfur compounds will be not only important for the development of microbial physiology but also promote the effective application of the bacterium in technology. Recently, genetic problems [14] and application to the bacterial leaching [15] of the bacterium have been reviewed. In this article, we review studies on the mechanisms of the electron transfer coupled to the oxidation of Fe 2÷ by T. ferrooxidans.…”

Proteic toxin-antitoxin, bacterial plasmid addiction systems and their evolution with special reference to the pas system of pTF-FC2

“…Plasmid pTF-FC2 is a 12.2-kb broad host range, mobilizable plasmid that was isolated from a strain of the biomining bacterium Thiobacillus ferrooxidans [21]. This strain formed part of the inoculum used for the pretreatment of a gold-bearing arsenopyrite concentrate from the Fairview mine (Barberton district, Mpumalanga, South Africa) [22].…”

“…This strain formed part of the inoculum used for the pretreatment of a gold-bearing arsenopyrite concentrate from the Fairview mine (Barberton district, Mpumalanga, South Africa) [22]. The plasmid has been sequenced and contains a replicon related to the IncQ plasmids, a mobilization region with a strong similarity to IncP plasmids and a transposon which is clearly Tn21-like [21]. Located within the replicon between the genes for the RepB primase and the RepA helicase are three small genes, pasABC (see Fig.…”

Inter- and intraspecific genomic variability of the 16S–23S intergenic spacer regions (ISR) in representatives ofAcidithiobacillus thiooxidansandAcidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

“…It is known that since the habitats of A. ferrooxidans and A. thiooxidans strains are geographically extremely diverse, Acidithiobacillus strains developing in various ecological niches and adapted to specific oxidation substrates and environmental conditions are characterized by different growth rates and activities of ferrous iron and/or sulfide minerals oxidation (Rawlings, 2005). Acidithiobacillus strains described in the literature is characterized by a wide range of interstrain genotypic variability with respect to the DNA G1C content, level of DNA-DNA homology of total genomes, the number and sizes of plasmids and chromosomal DNA structure (Rawlings & Kusano, 1994;Rawlings, 2001;Valenzuela et al, 2006).Various molecular methods, such as 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization, have been used to obtain a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among the many strains of A. ferrooxidans and A. thiooxidans (Lane et al, 1992;Karavaiko et al, 2003). Moreover, PCR-based methods provide indirect access to DNA sequence polymorphism to assess the species or clonal identity of Acidithiobacillus spp or to allow both the interspecific and intraspecific discrimination of strains (Selenska-Pobell et al, 1998;Paulino1et al, 2001;Bergamo et al, 2004).…”