CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF MOLECULAR PROBES TO IDENTIFY AND QUANTITATE BIOLEACHING MICROORGANISMS.

Abstract

There are special problems associated with the identification and quantitation of microorganisms in biohydrometallurgical operations. In almost every situation there are numerous species of autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria. Many of these have similar morphologies and are difficult to purify since they grow poorly or not at all on solid media. In addition, analysis is frequently aggravated by the presence of small rock particles and by the production of ferric precipitates. Authors have developed a technique for the characterization and quantitation of bioleaching microorganisms that circumvents many of these problems. The technique utilizes molecular probes consisting of cloned DNA sequences. These probes can distinguish between species of Thiobacillus and can even differentiate between several strains of the single species Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. The probes are exquisitely sensitive permitting the detection of as few as 10**5 bacteria of a given species. Authors propose that the technique will be useful for the identification and quantitation of native microorganisms and also may be used to follow the growth of a laboratory strain or genetically-engineered microorganism in a bioleaching operation.