Global ETD Search

11	Towards microbial electrochemical technologies for metal recovery / Vers des technologies électrochimiques microbiennes pour la récupération de métaux Anaya garzon, Juan 29 March 2019 (has links) Metals, essential constituents of a vast number of products and industrial processes, are paradoxically confronted to a scarcity issue without precedents. Among the emerging technologies for sustainable metal recovery, bio-electrochemical systems (BES) stand at a research state with a potential application on low-content metal streams. They are based on electroactive bacteria that can exchange electrons with their environment to drive an (electro)chemical metal precipitation. The feasibility of three configurations of BES aiming to recover metals at low-energy and low-chemicals consumption was explored. A first approach inspired on metal-bacteria interactions aimed to transform gold and chromium ions into added-value products. A polarized cathode promoting the metal reduction and symbiotically producing metallic nanoparticles on bacteria was studied. A second configuration used a halophilic bioanode to recover a panel of metals including transition metals and rare earth elements from marine environments. Metals were not directly precipitated by the contact with bacteria, but via a gas-diffusion cathode coupled to the bioanode. The third configuration considered a neodymium electrochemical reduction coupled to an oxidation catalyzed by a bioanode. Here, the conventional metal-containing aqueous system was replaced by an ionic liquid, an emerging solvent suitable for REE electrodeposition. / Les métaux, composants essentiels d'un grand nombre de produits et de processus industriels, sont paradoxalement confrontés à un problème de pénurie sans précédent. Parmi les technologies émergentes pour la récupération durable des métaux, les systèmes bio-électrochimiques (BES) sont à la recherche d’une application potentielle sur des matrices aqueuses de métaux à faible teneur. Ils sont basés sur des bactéries dites électro-actives, pouvant échanger des électrons avec leur environnement afin de conduire une précipitation de (électro)chimique du métal. Le but étant d’explorer différents procédés de récupération de métaux à faible consommation d'énergie et de produits chimiques, trois configurations de BES ont été abordés. Une première approche inspirée des interactions métal-bactérie visait à transformer les ions d’or et de chrome en produits à valeur ajoutée. Une cathode polarisée favorisant la réduction des métaux et produisant de manière symbiotique des nanoparticules métalliques sur des bactéries a été étudiée. Une seconde configuration utilisait une bioanode halophile pour récupérer un panel de métaux comprenant des métaux de transition et des éléments de terres rares provenant d’environnements marins. Les métaux ne sont pas précipités directement par le contact avec les bactéries mais par une cathode à diffusion gazeuse couplée à la bioanode. La troisième configuration envisageait une réduction électrochimique au néodyme couplée à une oxydation catalysée par une bioanode. Le système aqueux contenant un métal conventionnel a été remplacé par un liquide ionique, un solvant émergent avantageux pour l'électrodéposition de terres rares. Système bioelectrochimique Biosynthèse de nanoparticules Bioanode halophile Liquides ioniques Récupération de métaux Ree Microbial electrochemical system Nanoparticles biosynthesis Halophilic bioanode Ionic liquid Metal recovery Ree 620
12	Transcriptional regulation and physiological importance of the kdp-system from the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium salinarum Kixmüller, Dorthe 03 April 2012 (has links) The high affinity, ATP-dependent K+ uptake system KdpFABC of Halobacterium salinarum, is highly induced under K+ limitation. In contrast to the well-characterized Kdp system in Escherichia coli, in which the kdpFABC genes are transcriptionally regulated by the sensor kinase/response regulator system KdpD/KdpE, transcriptional regulation of the kdp genes in H. salinarum was unknown due to the absence of halobacterial homologues of KdpD/KdpE. Furthermore, the physiological relevance of the KdpFABC K+ uptake system of H. salinarum was puzzling, since hypersaline habitats usually comprise K+ concentrations which do not induce kdp expression. In order to analyze the regulation of kdp gene expression, it was essential to gain information about the transcriptional unit(s) involved. Northern blotting, primer extension analysis and real-time RT-PCR revealed the presence of a polycistronic leaderless kdpFABCQ transcript with a putative kdp terminator or at least a potential mRNA processing site downstream of kdpQ. Furthermore, promoter truncation studies verified the so far only predicted basal transcription elements together with an upstream-located operator sequence. Since deletions of this putative operator sequence did not lead to a constitutive expression, a further component has to be involved in the regulation of the kdpFABCQ genes. However, truncation and scanning mutagenesis analyses of the kdp promoter as well as translational fusions of a halophilic beta-galactosidase to the kdp promoter excluded an additional regulatory element up- or downstream of the basal transcription elements and in the kdp-coding region. These results lead to speculations of multiple basal transcription factors to be involved. Furthermore, an inducible expression vector (shuttle vector) was constructed based on the promoter of the kdpFABCQ operon due to its, K+-sensitive features. Inducible expression systems are yet not available for H. salinarum. The resulting, replicating vector pKIX is functional and enables a K+-dependent expression from the kdp promoter with rather high induction ratios of 50-fold. Expression levels could further be improved by plasmid- and additional chromosomally encoded kdpQ and mutations generated in the kdp promoter. Since transcript levels from pKIX were found to be independent of differential target genes, the general application of pKIX as an inducible expression system is strongly supported and pKIX could, thus, be made accessible to the scientific community. To decipher the physiological relevance of the halobacterial Kdp system, H. salinarum was encountered to desiccation stress and salt crystal (halite) entombment. Halite crystals grown under non-inducing K+ concentrations with entombed strains of H. salinarum and H. salinarum deleted in the kdpFABCQ genes revealed a significantly reduced survival rate of the deletion strain upon recultivation. Additionally, a kdpFABCQ-inducing desiccation stress could already be determined on agar plates under non-limiting K+ concentrations. Furthermore, the cell morphology of H. salinarum entrapped in halite crystals resembled that of H. salinarum grown under K+-limiting conditions. Therefore, the Kdp system promotes survival of H. salinarum under desiccation stress. Furthermore, the Kdp system could be identified as at least one of the systems important for long-term survival of H. salinarum in halite. Halobacterium Halobacterium salinarum H. salinarum halophile halophil archaea archaeon kdp kdpFABC kdpFABCQ kdp-System ATP Kalium Kaliumaufnahme K+ Halit Salzkristall Austrocknung Trockenstress transkriptionelle Regulation Genexpression pKIX induzierbarer Expressionsvektor Expressionsvektor kdpQ Kdp Komplex halobacterial halophilic kdpFABC genes kdp-system high-affinity ATP-dependent potassium potassium pump K+ uptake desiccation desiccation stress halite salt crystal long-term survival transcriptional regulation gene expression inducible expression vector expression vector Kdp complex ddc:570

Search results

Towards microbial electrochemical technologies for metal recovery / Vers des technologies électrochimiques microbiennes pour la récupération de métaux

Transcriptional regulation and physiological importance of the kdp-system from the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium salinarum