The project proposal investigates activity of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria to obtain new results on process parameters which results in environmental acidification and toxic metal mobilization in sulfide wastes and abandoned mines. An Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans mine isolate will be a model bacterium to study elemental sulfur oxidation. To learn more about the cell energetic profile, a method for ATP determination will be applied in relation to oxidation kinetics and assessment of an actual metabolic potential of bacteria to form sulfuric acid. The aerobic bacteria will be adapted to anaerobic sulfur oxidation to study process parameters under different physiological state of bacteria. Proteome analysis of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria will be performed to obtain knowledge on characteristic proteins which are formed during elemental sulfur oxidation and a cell switch to iron oxidation. This will provide a complex view to the metabolic control. The project can contribute to the study of physiology of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in relation to their role in the environment.

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