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Review
. 2023 Jan 11;11(1):186.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11010186.

Current Trends in Metal Biomining with a Focus on Genomics Aspects and Attention to Arsenopyrite Leaching-A Review

Tatiana Abashina  1 , Mikhail Vainshtein  1
Affiliations
Review

Current Trends in Metal Biomining with a Focus on Genomics Aspects and Attention to Arsenopyrite Leaching-A Review

Tatiana Abashina et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The presented review is based on scientific microbiological articles and patents in the field of biomining valuable metals. The main attention is paid to publications of the last two decades, which illustrate some shifts in objects of interest and modern trends both in general and applied microbiology. The review demonstrates that microbial bioleaching continues to develop actively, despite various problems in its industrial application. The previous classic trends in the microbial bioleaching persist and remain unchanged, including (i) the search for and selection of new effective species and strains and (ii) technical optimization of the bioleaching process. Moreover, new trends were formed during the last decades with an emphasis on the phylogeny of leaching microbiota and on genomes of the leaching microorganisms. This area of genomics provides new, interesting information and forms a basis for the subsequent construction of new leaching strains. For example, this review mentions some changed strains with increased resistance to toxic compounds. Additionally, the review considers some problems of bioleaching valuable metals from toxic arsenopyrite.

Keywords: archaea; arsenopyrite; bacteria; bioleaching; genetic modifications.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 3
Figure 3
Unrooted phylogenetic tree based on an analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of metal-leaching acidophilic bacteria dominated in the Shanuch deposit microbiota before and after cultivation [36]. The dendrogram was constructed using MEGA 6 software (neighbor-joining analysis) based on a 1536 bp aligned sequence. The sequences obtained in this work are highlighted in bold. Figure 3 is published by permission of Springer Nature Publisher (License Number 5443120489896).
Figure 1
Figure 1
The number of patents and patent applications filed in the US in 1988–2022 according to the US-PGPUB, USPAT, USOCR databases. Search by combinations of search words 1—“gold AND bioleaching” and 2—“nickel AND bioleaching AND bacteria”.
Figure 2
Figure 2
General scheme of phylogenetic diversity in the main groups of acidophilic bacteria and archaea capable of leaching metals [24] (open access).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Location of arsenic resistance genes on the chromosome in various strains of A. ferrooxidans [60] (open access). The distance between genes is shown as bp scale. Genes encoding: arsB, arsenite/antimonite: H+ antiporter; arsR, transcriptional repressor of the arsenic resistance operon; arsC, arsenate reductase; arsD, transcriptional repressor and arsenic metal chaperone.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Location of arsenic resistance genes on the chromosome in various strains of A. ferrooxidans [60] (open access). The distance between genes is shown as bp scale. Genes encoding: arsB, arsenite/antimonite: H+ antiporter; arsR, transcriptional repressor of the arsenic resistance operon; arsC, arsenate reductase; arsD, transcriptional repressor and arsenic metal chaperone.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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