Examination of Lipopolysaccharide (O-Antigen) Populations of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans from Two Mine Tailings

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Net acid-generating capacities of 39.74 kg of H2SO4 per ton (ca. 0.05 kg/kg) (pH 2.68) for the Lemoine copper mine tailings (closed ca. 8 years ago; located 40 km west of Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada) and 16.07 kg of H2SO4 per ton (ca. 0.02 kg/kg) (pH 3.01) for the Copper Rand tailings (in current use and 50 km distant [east] from those of Lemoine) demonstrate that these sulfide tailings can support populations of acidophilic thiobacilli. Oxidized regions in both tailings environments were readily visible, were extremely acidic (Lemoine, pH 2.36; Copper Rand, pH 3.07), and provided natural isolates for our study. A 10% (wt/vol) oxalic acid treatment, which solubilizes both ferric sulfate and ferric hydroxide precipitates (B. Ramsay, J. Ramsay, M. deTremblay, and C. Chavarie, Geomicrobiol. J. 6:171-177, 1988), enabled the recovery of intact bacterial cells from the tailings material and from liquid synthetic medium for lipopolysaccharide analysis. No viable cells could be cultured after this oxalic acid treatment. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electro-phoretic profiles of lipopolysaccharides extracted from the Lemoine tailings were complex, indicating a heterogeneous population of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Six T. ferrooxidans subspecies as identified by lipopolysaccharide analysis (i.e., lipopolysaccharide chemotypes) were eventually isolated from a total of 112 cultures from the Lemoine tailings. Using the same isolate and lipopolysaccharide typing techniques, we identified only a single lipopolysaccharide chemotype from 20 cultures of T. ferrooxidans isolated from the Copper Rand tailings. This homogeneity of lipopolysaccharide chemotype was much different from what was found for the older Lemoine tailings and may reflect a progressive lipopolysaccharide heterogeneity of Thiobacillus isolates as tailings leach and age.

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