Multistage bioassociation of uranium onto an extremely halophilic archaeon revealed by a unique combination of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques

The interactions of two extremely halophilic archaea with uranium were investigated at high ionic strength as a function of time, pH and uranium concentration. Halobacterium noricense DSM-15987 and Halobacterium sp. putatively noricense isolated from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) repository were used for these investigations. The kinetics of U(VI) bioassociation of both strains showed an atypical multistage behavior, meaning that after an initial phase of U(VI) sorption, an unexpected interim period of U(VI) release was observed, followed by a slow reassociation of uranium with the cells. By applying in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy, the involvement of phosphoryl and carboxylate groups in U(VI) complexation during the first biosorption phase was shown. Differences in cell morphology and uranium localization become visible at different stages of the bioassociation process, by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate for the first time that association of uranium on the extremely halophilic archaeon is a multistage process, beginning with a sorption which is followed by another process, probably biomineralization.