Biological nano-mineralization of Yb phosphate by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

we investigated the association of heavy REE of Yb with yeast S. cerevisiae grown in P-rich medium after exposure for 2 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72h, 96h and 120 h to Yb(III) solution at pH of 3, 4 or 5. These results suggest that the sorbed Yb on the cell surfaces reacted with P released from inside of the yeast cell, resulting in the formation of Yb-phosphate mineral like. This post sorption process on the microbial cell surface should be a key role to constrain the long-term migration of REEs and trivalent actinides in geological repository.