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Morphological changes in an acidophilic bacterium induced by heavy metals

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Abstract

The Acidiphilium strains inhabit acidic mine regions where they are subjected to occasional environmental stresses such as high and low temperatures, exposure to various heavy metals, etc. Change in morphology is one of the strategies that bacteria adopt to cope with environmental stresses; however, no study on this aspect has been reported in the case of Acidiphilium sp. This work is an attempt using the acidophilic heterotrophic bacterium Acidiphilium symbioticum H8. It was observed that the maximum alterations in size occurred when the bacterium was exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of Cu and Cd. Loosely packed coccobacillus-type normal cells formed characteristic chains of coccoidal lenticular shape with constrictions at the junctions between them in the presence of Cd; Cu induced transformation of cells to become round shaped; Ni caused the cells to aggregate, but Zn showed no effect. Respective metal depositions on the cell surface were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Cell bound Ca2+ ions were replaced by these metal ions and measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry from the culture filtrate. Cell shape changed only after the addition of sub-inhibitory concentrations of the metals, but in growth inhibitory concentrations it was similar to the normal cells.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Dr. S. Chakraborty, University Science Instrumentation Centre, Burdwan University, West Bengal, and Dr. S. Shome, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata for providing SEM facilities. Many thanks are also addressed to Mrs. S. Shome Mazumder, Institute of Wetland Management and Ecological Design, Kolkata, for her help to conduct AAS experiments successfully. R. Chakravarty thankfully acknowledges the Senior Research Fellowship provided by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.

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  1. Pataki C. Banerjee

    Present address: , 40 Baje Sibpur Road, Howrah, West Bengal, 711102, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata, 700 032, India

    Rajdeep Chakravarty & Pataki C. Banerjee

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  1. Rajdeep Chakravarty
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  2. Pataki C. Banerjee
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Correspondence to Pataki C. Banerjee.

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Communicated by K. Horikoshi.

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Chakravarty, R., Banerjee, P.C. Morphological changes in an acidophilic bacterium induced by heavy metals. Extremophiles 12, 279–284 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-007-0128-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-007-0128-4

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