Metal processing using microorganisms has many advantages including the potential for reduced environmental impacts as compared to conventional technologies.Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidansis an iron- and sulfur-oxidizing chemolithoautotroph that is known to participate in metal bioleaching, and its metabolic capabilities have been exploited for industrial-scale copper and gold biomining. In addition to bioleaching, microorganisms could also be engineered for selective metal binding, enabling new opportunities for metal bioseparation and recovery. Here, we explored the ability of polyhistidine (polyHis) tags appended to two recombinantly expressed endogenous proteins to enhance the metal binding capacity of A. ferrooxidans. The genetically engineered cells achieved enhanced cobalt and copper binding capacities, and the Langmuir isotherm captures their interaction behavior with these divalent metals. Additionally, the cellular localization of the recombinant proteins correlated with kinetic modeling of the binding interactions, where the outer membrane-associated polyHis-tagged licanantase peptide bound the metals faster than the periplasmically expressed polyHis-tagged rusticyanin protein. The selectivity of the polyHis sequences for cobalt over copper from mixed metal solutions suggests potential utility in practical applications, and further engineering could be used to create metal-selective bioleaching microorganisms.
Keywords: acidophile; bioleaching; cobalt; copper; genetic engineering; metal binding; metal recovery.