抄録
An optimization of microbially-facilitated metal ore leaching could benefit from understanding the genetics and biochemistry of the iron- and sulfur- oxidative metabolism of key organisms. We used Sulfobacillus acidophilus as a model for gram-positive biomining organisms and applied a subtractive hybridization of PCR-amplified cDNA to identify genes upregulated in cells grown heterotrophically under ferrous iron- or sulfur-oxidizing conditions. Among the obtained cDNA fragments, those coding for genes involved in redox processes were sequenced. Two different trimeric DMSO-reductase family operons were shown to be upregulated in iron- and sulfur-grown cells, respectively. The catalytic subunits of both operons showed close homologies to DMSO-reductases involved in the reductive cleavage of sulfur-sulfur bonds.
