A Novel Approach to Isolation and Screening of Calcifying Bacteria for Biotechnological Applications

Abstract

Bacterial calcium-carbonate precipitation (BCP) has been studied for multiple applications such as remediation, consolidation, and cementation. Isolation and screening of strong calcifying bacteria is the main task of BCP-technique. In this paper, we studied CaCO3 precipitation by different bacteria isolated from a rhizospheric soil in both solid and liquid media. It has been found, through culture-depending studies, that bacteria belonging to Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria are the dominant bacteria involved in CaCO3 precipitation in this environment. Pure and mixed cultures of selected strains were applied for sand biocementation experiments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses of the biotreated samples revealed the biological nature of the cementation and the effectiveness of the biodeposition treatment by mixed cultures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that all the calcifying strains selected for sand biocementation precipitated CaCO3, mostly in the form of calcite. In this study, Biolog® EcoPlate is evaluated as a useful method for a more targeted choice of the sampling site with the purpose of obtaining interesting candidates for BCP applications. Furthermore, ImageJ software was investigated, for the first time to our knowledge, as a potential method to screen high CaCO3 producer strains.

Isolation of alkaliphilic calcifying bacteria and their feasibility for enhanced CaCO3 precipitation in bio‐based cementitious composites

“…The class of Bacillus, Arthrobacter and Planococcus has been known for calcite production (Jonkers, 2011;Park et al, 2013;Mykytczuk et al, 2016). Corynebacterium strain urealyticum has been reported as calcifying strain (Cacchio and Del Gallo, 2019). However, the species of Chryseomicrobium and Glutamicibacter are first time identified as calcifying bacteria in the research.…”

“…Arthrobacter specie is also reported as 8.9% strength increase in cementitious mortar (Park et al, 2010). Planococcus and corynebacterium strains have been reported as calcifying bacteria but never investigated in conjunction with cementitious mortar (Braissant et al, 2003;Dhami et al, 2017;Cacchio and Del Gallo, 2019). Chryseomicrobium and Glutamicibacter genera belonged to the Familia of Planococcus & Arthrobacter; however, available literature lacks in their calcification capability and is hereby publicized for the first time as calcifying strains.…”

Calcium carbonate precipitation by Paenibacillus fonticola and Sporosarcina luteola for its potential application in bio concrete

“…CaCO 3 precipitates of three selected isolates were subjected to SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) and EDX (Energy Dispersive X Ray) microanalysis (Sun et al, 2020;Bibi et al, 2018;Cacchio et al, 2019). Morphology of the crystals was observed through SEM (JSM-IT200).…”

Tracking the Deep Biosphere through Time

“…Cacchio and Gallo [37] provide a methodical study describing calcium-carbonate precipitation processes in bacterial strains isolated from the rhizosphere. In contrast to bacterial carbonate precipitation in speleothems, the biomineralization potential in rhizosphere soils is understudied.…”