Selective accumulation of heavy metals by three indigenous Bacillus strains, B-cereus, B-megaterium and B-sphaericus, from drain waters of a uranium waste pile

The interaction was studied of three Bacillus isolates, recovered from a ur anium waste pile in Saxony, Germany, with different heavy metal ions presen t in the original ground water of the pile. Using 16S amplified ribosomal D NA restriction and random amplified polymorphic DNA analyses, the three iso lates were classified as B. cereus, B. megaterium and B. sphaericus. The ab ility was investigated of vegetative cells and spores of the indigenous Bac illus strains as well as those of the corresponding reference strains B. ce reus ATCC 4415, B. megaterium NRRL B5385, and B. sphaericus NCTC 9602 to ac cumulate Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Ga, Mn, Ni, Rb, Pb, Si, Sn, Sr, Ti , U, and Zn. It was clearly shown that all strains studied accumulated sele ctively large amounts of U, Pb, Cd, Cu and Al. Co, Mn, Ni, Zn, and Ga was o nly weakly accumulated. The binding of Pa, Ga, Mn, Ni, and Zn was species a nd in some cases even strain specific. (C) 1999 Federation of European Micr obiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.