Summary
The influence of pH, temperature and catechol concentration on germanium (Ge) accumulation byPseudomonas stutzeri AG259 was investigated. Increasing the incubation temperature or pH of the culture medium markedly enhanced Ge accumulation. High amounts of Ge were accumulated at pH 11 and at 50°C, conditions under whichP. stutzeri cells were non-viable. Ge accumulation was unaffected by treatment with toluene or 2,4-dinitrophenol. These results indicate that Ge was accumulated by an energy-independent process. Ge accumulation increased as the catechol concentration increased. The use of autoclaved catechol solutions consistently increased the amount of Ge accumulated at all concentrations of catechol tested. It is possible that Ge enters the bacterial cells as a Ge-catechol complex and this uptake is enhanced by autoclaved catechol.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azam F, Volcani BE (1974) Role of silicon in diatom metabolism VI. Active transport of germanic acid in the heterotrophic diatomNitzchia alba. Arch Microbiol 101:1–8
Chmielowski J, Klapcinska B (1986) Bioaccumulation of germanium byPseudomonas putida in the presence of two selected substrates. Appl Environ Microbiol 51:1099–1103
Gadd GM, Laurence OS, Briscoe PA, Trevors JT (1989) Silver accumulation inPseudomonas stutzeri AG259. Biol Metals 2:168–173
Glocking F (1969) The chemistry of germanium. Academic Press, London, p 36
Haefeli C, Franklin C, Hardy K (1984) Plasmid-determined silver-resistance inPseudomonas stutzeri isolated from a silver mine. J Bacteriol 158:389–392
Hardy K (1981) Bacterial plasmids. Nelson, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK
Ishida N, Suzuki F, Asho H, Hayashi Y (1979) Antitumor effects of organogermanium compound (Ge-132) in mouse tumours. In: Proceedings of the Japanese Cancer Association Annual Meeting. p 193
Jaworski JG (1982) Germanium (Ge) data sheet. Data sheets on selected toxic elements. National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) Associated Committee on Scientific Criteria for Environmental Quality. NRCC publication no. 19252 of the Environmental Secretariat, pp 31–32
Kada T, Mochizuki H, Miyao K (1984) Antimutagenic effects of germanium oxide on Trp-P-2-induced frameshift mutations inSalmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA1538. Mutat Res 125:145–151
Klapcinska B, Chmielowski J (1986) Binding of germanium toPseudomonas putida cells. Appl Environ Microbiol 51:1144–1147
Li AP, Dahl AR, Hill JO (1982) In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of dibutyltin dichloride and dibutyl germanium dichloride. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 64:482–485
Mochizuki H, Kada T (1982) Antimutagenic effect of Ge-132 on γ-ray-induced mutations inEscherichia coli B/r WP2 trp. Int J Radiat Biol 42:653–659
Schneider H, Wang PY, Chan YK, Maleszka R (1981) Conversion ofd-xylose into ethanol by the yeastPachysolen tannophilus. Biotechnol Lett 3:89–92
Serrano R, Gancedo JM, Gancedo C (1973) Assay of yeast enzymes in situ. A potential tool in regulation studies. Eur J Biochem 34:479–482
Tobia SK, El-Shahat MF, Saad EA (1978) Spectrophotometric determination of germanium by phenylfluorone. Microchem J 23:525–529
Van Dyke MI,Lee H, Trevors JT (1989a) Germanium toxicity in selected bacterial and yeast strains. J Ind Microbiol 4:299–306
Van Dyke MI, Lee H, Trevors JT (1989b) Germanium accumulation by bacteria. Arch Microbiol 152:533–538
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Van Dyke, M.I., Parker, W., Lee, H. et al. Germanium accumulation byPseudomonas stutzeri AG259. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 33, 716–720 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604945
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604945