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Materials

Superoxide-Producing Fungus Sponges Up Mine Metals

Manganese oxidation could aid mine remediation

by Deirdre Lockwood
July 30, 2012 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 90, Issue 31

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Credit: PNAS/USA
An ascomycete fungus in coal mine drainage treatment systems oxidizes manganese, precipitating manganese oxides at the base of its reproductive structures.
An ascomycete fungus found in coal mine drainage water oxidizes manganese, producing a brown precipitate of manganese oxide at the base of its reproductive structures.
Credit: PNAS/USA
An ascomycete fungus in coal mine drainage treatment systems oxidizes manganese, precipitating manganese oxides at the base of its reproductive structures.
[+]Enlarge
Credit: PNAS
Optical image (left) and micro-X-ray fluorescence map (right) of fungal reproductive structures, showing high concentrations of manganese (red) at base.
Micro-X-ray fluorescence maps of fungal reproductive structures. Manganese oxide precipitates at the base of these structures.
Credit: PNAS
Optical image (left) and micro-X-ray fluorescence map (right) of fungal reproductive structures, showing high concentrations of manganese (red) at base.

Manganese oxides are environmental sponges that scavenge and sequester toxic metals such as lead, copper, and zinc, making them effective in cleaning up coal mine drainage. In their efforts to improve mine drainage treatment, researchers have struggled to understand how microorganisms, generally thought to be bacteria, oxidize soluble Mn(II) to precipitate manganese oxides in these systems. Now Colleen M. Hansel, a microbial geochemist at Harvard University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and colleagues have found that the key to some successful treatment systems is not bacteria but a fungus (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203885109). Combining light microscopy with synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy, the researchers showed that a common ascomycete fungus found in mine drainage treatment systems oxidizes Mn(II) by producing superoxide extracellularly during reproduction. This superoxide reacts with Mn(II), causing precipitation of brown Mn(III) and Mn(IV) oxides on the base of the fungus’ reproductive structures. The work could help in bioremediating acid mine drainage, says Bradley M. Tebo, a microbiologist at Oregon Health & Science University.

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