Abstract
Thermophilic microorganisms are becoming increasingly attractive for use in Biotechnology. The most spectacular of those belong to a new kingdom, the archaebacteria. We have used sulphur-dependent acidophilic archaebacteria growing optimally between 65° to 75°C to study its applications in the area of metal leaching. Tailings from a copper ore flotation process, containing 1.2% copper, were leached on a stirred tank reactor at 70°C at different pulp densities yielding 90% extraction of copper. Methanogenic archaebacteria growing at temperatures of 30–80° C have been used for effluent treatment and for energy production. We report hereby the case of overproduction of vitamin B12 by one strain of Methanosarcina, using 5, 6-dimethylbenzimidazole-supplemented complex medium. Cobamides were purified by HPLC. After two transfers, the total corrinoids content was increased four fold and 28% was converted on vitamin B12. Archaebacteria may become of wide industrial interest if systems can be developed with high rates and biomass yields.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Brock, T.D.; Brock, K.M.; Belly, R.T. and Weiss, R.L. (1972) “Sulfolobus, a new genus of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria living at low pH and high temperature”, Arch. Microbiol. 84, 54–68.
Brock, T.D. (1978) “Thermophilic Microorganisms and Life at High Temperatures”, Springer-Verlag, N.Y.
Duarte, J.C.; Estrada, P.; Beaumont, H.; Sitima, M. and Pereira, P. (1990) “Biotreatment of tailings for metal recovery” in Acid mine water in pyritic environments, P.G. Norton (Ed.), Proceedings of “Lisboa 90:International symposium”, pp. 193-206.
Fiala, G. and Stetter, K.O. (1986) “Pyrococcus furiosus sp. nov. represents a novel genus of marine heterotrophic archaebacteria growing optimally at 100°C”, Arch. Microbiol. 145, 56-61.
Huber, R.; Langworththy, T.; König, H.; Thomm, M.; Woese, C.R.; Sleytr, U.B. and Stetter, K.O. (1986) “Thermotoga maritima sp. nov. represents a new genus of unique extremely thermophilic eubacteria growing up to 90°C”, Arch. Microbiol. 144, 324-333.
Huber, G.; Spinnler, C.; Gambacorta, A. and Stetter, K.O. (1989) “Metallosphaera sedula gen. and sp. nov. represents a new genus of aerobic, metal-mobilizing, thermoacidophilic archaebactera”, System. Appl. Microbiol. 12, 38–47.
Mah, Robert A. (1980) “Microbiology of Methanogenesis”, in Animal Waste Treatment and Utilization, Proceedings of International Symposium on Biogas, Microalgae and Livestock Wastes. Council for Agricultural Plan ning and Developemnt (Publ.), Taiwan, Rep. of China, pp. 13-29.
Segerer, A.; Neuner, A.; Jakob, K.K. and Stetter, K.O. (1986) “Acidianus infernus gen. nov., sp. nov., and Acidianus brierlevy comb, nov.:facultatively aerobic, extremely acidophilic thermophilic sulphurmetabolizing archaebacteria”, Int. J. System. Bacteriol. 36 (4), 559–564.
Stupperich, E.; Steiner, I. and Eisinger, H.J. (1987) “Substitution of Coα-(5-hydroxibenzimidazolyl) cobamide (Factor III) by vitamin B12 in Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum”, J. Bacteriol. 169 (7), 3076–3081.
Woese, C.R. and Fox, G.E. (1977) “Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain:the primary kingdoms”, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 5088–5090.
Woese, C.R. and Olsen, G.J. (1986) “Archaebacterial phylogeny:perspectives on the urkingdoms”, Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 7, 161–177.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Duarte, J.C. (1992). Thermophilic Archaebacteria for Biotechnology. In: Vardar-Sukan, F., Sukan, Ş.S. (eds) Recent Advances in Biotechnology. NATO ASI Series, vol 210. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2468-3_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2468-3_22
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5089-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2468-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive