Genomica, aplicaciones mineria

Biotechnology Advances 24 (2006) 197 – 211 www.elsevier.com/locate/biotechadv

Research review paper

Genomics, metagenomics and proteomics in biomining microorganisms
Lissette Valenzuelaa, An Chib, Simon Bearda, Alvaro Orella, Nicolas Guiliania, Jeff Shabanowitzb, Donald F. Huntb, Carlos A. Jereza,*
a

Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Biology,Faculty of Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile b Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. Accepted 29 September 2005 Available online 8 November 2005

Abstract The use of acidophilic, chemolithotrophic microorganisms capable of oxidizing iron and sulfur in industrial processes to recover metals from minerals containing copper, gold and uranium is awell established biotechnology with distinctive advantages over traditional mining. A consortium of different microorganisms participates in the oxidative reactions resulting in the extraction of dissolved metal values from ores. Considerable effort has been spent in the last years to understand the biochemistry of iron and sulfur compounds oxidation, bacteria–mineral interactions (chemotaxis,quorum sensing, adhesion, biofilm formation) and several adaptive responses allowing the microorganisms to survive in a bioleaching environment. All of these are considered key phenomena for understanding the process of biomining. The use of genomics, metagenomics and high throughput proteomics to study the global regulatory responses that the biomining community uses to adapt to their changingenvironment is just beginning to emerge in the last years. These powerful approaches are reviewed here since they offer the possibility of exciting new findings that will allow analyzing the community as a microbial system, determining the extent to which each of the individual participants contributes to the process, how they evolve in time to keep the conglomerate healthy and therefore efficientduring the entire process of bioleaching. D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Biomining; Acid mine drainage; Genomics; Metagenomics; Proteomics

Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Introduction: biomining and acid mine drainage generating microorganisms Genomics and bioinformatics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gene function analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . Metagenomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Standard proteomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High throughput proteomics and metaproteomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and their . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . mode of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . action . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 199 201 204 205 206

* Corresponding author. Departamento de Biologıa, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Chile, Santiago 1, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile. Tel.: +56 ´ 2 978 7376. E-mail address: cjerez@uchile.cl (C.A. Jerez). 0734-9750/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2005.09.004

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7. Concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1. Introduction: biomining and acid mine drainage generating microorganisms and their mode of action The use of acidophilic, chemolithotrophic microorganisms capable of oxidizing iron and sulfur in industrial processes to recover metals from minerals containing copper, gold and uranium is a well...