AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF STREAMERS IN ACID MINE DRAINAGE WATER FROM A PYRITIC MINE

Abstract

The slime streamers from acid mine drainage water were examined using both scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The acid streamers were composed of innumerable chains of bacterial rods which had a multilayered cell envelope characteristic of gram-negative bacteria. The slime matrix was made up of densely interwoven microfibrils of extracellular acid polysaccharides which stained positively with ruthenium red. The microfibrils varied considerably in thickness and were woven in various patterns in the electron micrographs of thin sections. Characteristic architecture such as lattice structure of electron-dense dots and surface projections were observed in the bacterial cell envelopes. Bacteriophages occurred in the slime matrix of the acid streamers.