Calcium carbonates: induced biomineralization with controlled macromorphology

Abstract

Abstract. Biomineralization of (magnesium) calcite and vaterite by bacterial isolates has been known for quite some time. However, the extracellular precipitation has hardly ever been linked to different morphologies of the minerals that are observed. Here, isolates from limestone-associated groundwater, rock and soil were shown to form calcite, magnesium calcite or vaterite. More than 92 % of isolates were indeed able to form carbonates, while abiotic controls failed to form minerals. The crystal morphologies varied, including rhombohedra, prisms and pyramid-like macromorphologies. Different conditions like varying temperature, pH or media components, but also cocultivation to test for collaborative effects of sympatric bacteria, were used to differentiate between mechanisms of calcium carbonate formation. Single crystallites were cemented with bacterial cells; these may have served as nucleation sites by providing a basic pH at short distance from the cells. A calculation of potential calcite formation of up to 2 g L −1 of solution made it possible to link the microbial activity to geological processes.

Morpho-Mineralogical and Bio-Geochemical Description of Cave Manganese Stromatolite-Like Patinas (Grotta del Cervo, Central Italy) and Hints on Their Paleohydrological-Driven Genesis

“…Moreover, our results show microbial imprints, some identified as putative predivisional cells (this fact has already been reported from other Mn deposits of Grotta del Cervo, see Vaccarelli et al, 2021), associated only with vernadite, suggesting a microbial origin for this highly disordered compound. In addition, bacteria of the genera Bacillus, Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas, Lysinibacillus, etc., appeared to be involved in calcium carbonate precipitation (Meier et al, 2017;Farrugia et al, 2019;Ortega-Villamagua et al, 2020). Most of these bacteria are ureolytic strains (Mitchell et al, 2019;Reeksting et al, 2020), although nonureolytic precipitation was reported (Lee et al, 2017).…”

Evaluating Biosedimentation for Strength Improvement in Acidic Soil

“…It can also survive in extremely alkaline (pH 10) circumstances, making it a relevant agent source for the MICP phenomena [20,21]. Sporosarcina pasteurii, on the other hand, has a peak activity in urease enzyme synthesis in pH ranges from 8 to 9 [22][23][24], while precipitation requires a pH of 9 [25]. Sporosarcina pasteurii also possesses a mechanical pressure resistance of 0.50 J/cm 3 [26].…”

Kinetic model of a newly‐isolated Lysinibacillus sp. strain YL and elastic properties of its biogenic CaCO3 towards biocement application

“…Many bacterial genera such as Bacillus , Lysinibacillus , and Pseudomonas could induce biocalcification. [ 3–5 ] Biogenic CaCO 3 is environmentally‐friendly, which is suitable for various applications including prevention of sandy soil erosion, [ 6,7 ] remediation of limestone structures, [ 8 ] improvement of organic soil strength, [ 9 ] bioremediation of heavy metals, [ 10,11 ] and biocement applications. [ 5,12 ]…”