Isolation and Characterization of Pseudomonas stutzeri Capable of Reducing Fe(III) and Nitrate from Skarn-type Copper Mine Tailings

Nitrate and Fe(III) are two terminal electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration by microorganisms growing in the anoxic soil or sediment environment. In the current paper a facultative anaerobic dissimilatory Fe(III)- and nitrate-reducing bacterium was isolated from the Linchong tailings, a skarn-type copper mine tailings, located in Anhui. Skarn often formed at the contact zone between intrusions of granitic magma bodies into contact with carbonate sedimentary rocks. This made the tailings possessed strong acid neutralizing capacity and pH of the pore water was 6.8–8.6. The isolate, which was designated strain CW (CCTCC AB 2013114), was a gram-negative rod bacterium and belonged to the gamma subgroup p of the proteobacteria, closely (99.0%) related to Pseudomonas stutzeri. In defined medium, strain CW was shown to grow anaerobically with the acetate using the ferric iron or nitrate as the electron acceptors. Results also showed that strain CW could not grow in the presence of ferrous iron and nitrite.