Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Bacterial isolates from the uranium mining waste pile Haberland (Johanngeorgenstadt, Saxony) possess high affinities to heavy metals e.g. uranium. This binding effect is caused by the components of the bacterial cell wall, mainly affected by surface layer proteins.
Aim of this work is to investigate metal interaction processes like biosorption with Gram-positive bacteria and their main cell wall components.
In addition to the standard analytical methods, the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring is used to track and control the biological layer formation and metal deposition. This method allows the real time detection of sorption processes on a molecular level and gives further information to viscoelastic properties. Subsequent atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies enable the imaging of bio nanostructures and reveal complex information of structural properties.
Some selected results of these experiments will be shown on this poster.