Silica as biologically transmutated source for bacterial growth similar to carbon 

Abstract

Under specific conditions cells are capable of forming elements which did not exist before in the environment and this is referred as biological transmutation. Fungi and bacteria can solubilize insoluble silicates to support growth as case with the biological weathering of rocks. In the present study bacteria capable of silica solubilisation were isolated from soil, river water, pond sediment and talc mineral. These isolates were screened in vitro in medium containing magnesium trisilicate (0.25%) for zone of solubilization. Pseudomonas stutzeri was capable of growth in mineral media supplemented with and without glucose (0.1% level) and uses silicon-based autotrophy as a source of energy to support CO 2 fixation. Experiments conducted eliminating the head space CO 2 in mineral medium (with silica) supplemented with and without glucose showed that the Pseudomonas stutzeri could grow under silica and mineral nutrients alone and produce 84.1% biomass in 7 d. SEM-EDAX of the bacterial culture revealed the presence of carbon in the cells grown exclusively on silica suggestive of bacterial transmutation of silica to carbon. This may be due to that, silicon though a bigger atom making longer and weaker bonds has four bonding electrons available like carbon. Similar to carbon, silicon also has four open slots in its outer electron shell which may also from a basis for complex biological life.

Isolation and characterization of a novel silicate-solubilizing bacterial strainBurkholderia eburneaCS4-2 that promotes growth of japonica rice (Oryza sativaL. cv. Dongjin)

“…In this study, the five rhizobacterial isolates among the six exhibited the strongest Si-solubilizing capability. The ability of bacteria to depolymerize crystalline silicate has been reported previously from diverse sources such as the soil of potassium mine tailings (Huang et al 2013), surfaces of weathered rock (purple siltstone) (Chen et al 2015), Quercus petreae oak mycorrhizal roots surroundings (Calvaruso et al 2010), soil, river water, pond sediment and talc mineral (Umamaheswari et al 2016), surfaces of weathered feldspar (Sheng et al 2008) and weathered rocks (Wang et al 2015). Diverse kinds of mineral-weathering bacterial species were reported from these studies, including Bacillus sp., Rhizobium yantingense, Bacillus globisporus, Rhizobium tropici, Pseudomonas stutzeri (Sheng et al 2008;Huang et al 2013;Chen et al 2015;Wang et al 2015;Umamaheswari et al 2016).…”

Dark Septate Root Endophytic Fungus Nectria haematococca Improves Tomato Growth Under Water Limiting Conditions

“…The leaf characteristics of the negative control plants were higher compared to the positive control plants ( Table 1). The influence of carrier talc on plant growth appears to be an indirect effect as its application to soil or culture medium has been shown to affect soil fungal and bacterial populations variedly [18]. Tomato plants inoculated with N. haematococca had more leaves, leaflets per leaf and leaf area ( Table 1).…”

Efeito protetor da sílica ativada na adaptação de >i<Saccharomyces cerevisiae>/i< em fermentações com altos teores alcoólicos

“…Sendo que, a sílica é um composto com mais de 98% de dióxido de silício (SiO2) e quando submetida a um tratamento eletromagnético torna-se ativada (sílica (+) ) (DECAUX, 2017). A sílica vem sendo utilizada para gerar efeito protetor aos microrganismos por reduzir o estresse oxidativo, aumentar o oxigênio dissolvido e aumentar a absorção de amônia (THOMAS et al, 1994;UMAMAHESWARI, et al, 2016).…”

“…A sílica surge como uma alternativa, uma vez que, estudos mostraram que compostos a base de sílicio estimularam o crescimento celular de alguns microrganismos em condições estressantes. (UMAMAHESWARI, et al, 2016).…”

“…Por isso, em condições estressantes é utilizada para auxiliar na absorção de amônia e CO2 de microrganismos. (UMAMAHESWARI, et al, 2016). foi ajustada, com adição de água destilada, até 261,2 ART g L -1 .…”