Do microorganisms help to clean up uranium polluted waters?

The well examined uranium mining waste piles Königstein (Germany) is heavily polluted with uranium and also other toxic metals. Despite it is a reservoir for a high diversity of microorganisms that have evolved special strategies to survive in these extreme environments. Microorganisms are the beginning of the food chain and therefor the transfer of bound uranium along this food chain could rise to a serious threat to human health. The aim of the study should be to characterize the quantitative and structural interactions of different microorganisms with uranium in environmental concentrations and pH ranges. Bodo saltans a eukaryotic flagellate and it´s feeder bacterium Acidovorax facilis should be the representatives of this biodiversity.