Periplasmic bacterial biomineralization of copper sulfide nanoparticles

17 January 2022, Version 2
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Metal sulfides are a common group of extracellular bacterial biominerals. Only few cases of intracellular biomineralization have been reported in this group, mostly limited to greigite (Fe3S4) in magnetotactic bacteria. Here, we report the intracellular but periplasmic biomineralization of copper sulfide by the magnetotactic bacterium Desulfamplus magnetovallimortis (strain BW-1) that is known to mineralize greigite and magnetite (Fe3O4) in the cytoplasm. BW-1 produces hundreds of spherical nanoparticles, composed of 1-2 nm substructures of a poorly crystalline hexagonal copper sulfide that remains in a thermodynamically unstable state. Differential proteomics suggests that periplasmic proteins, such as a DegP-like protein and a heavy metal-binding protein, could be involved in this process. The unexpected periplasmic formation of copper sulfide nanoparticles in BW-1 reveals previously unknown possibilities for intracellular biomineralization.

Keywords

Biomineralization
Metal sulfide
Copper sulfide
Intracellular biomineralization
Periplasmic biomineralization
Magnetotactic bacteria
Substructured nanoparticle
Differential proteomics
Metal-binding protein
Protein-based biomineralization
Organic matrix-mediated biomineralization
Biologically-induced biomineralization
Biologically-controlled biomineralization

Supplementary materials

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