Development of molecular monitoring methods for the evaluation of the activity of sulfate- and metal reducing bacteria (SMRBS) as an indication of the in situ immobilisation of heavy metals and metalloids

Abstract

Sulfate- and metal reducing bacteria (SMRBs) are known for their capacity to reduce and precipitate heavy metals and metalloids (HMM) as metalsulfides (Luptakova A et al, 1998), which have the characteristic of forming stable precipitates due to their very low solubility product. Therefore, we examined the potential of using the activity of SMRBs to create a bioreactive zone or barrier for the in situ precepitation of heavy metals as a remediation strategy for heavy metal contaminated groundwater. In order to obtain insight in the ongoing biological processes for using this information to direct or optimize the in situ HMM- precipitation process, a monitoring strategy for sulfate- reduction activity of SMRBs must be designed using molecular methods. Here, we report the results of batch and column experiments which demonstrate the feasibility to stimulate the endogenous SRB- population, resulting in the in situ precipitation of HMM as sulfide complexes. Moreover, the sustainability of the in situ HMM precipitation wa s shown. For the development of molecular monitoring methods, the community structures of different bacterial consortia, obtained from bioreactors, was analysed by shotgun cloning of total community DNA followed by sequencing of the 16S rRNA- gene. The SRB- specific 16S rRNA- primerset SRB