Author(s)

Erica L.-W. Majumder, Judy D. Wall^*

Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

Uranium bio-transformations are the many and varying types of interactions that microbes can have with uranium encountered in their environment. In this review, bio-transformations, including reduction, oxidation, respiration, sorption, mineralization, accumulation, precipitation, biomarkers, and sensors are defined and discussed. Consensus and divergences are noted in bioavailability, mechanism of uranium reduction, environment, metabolism and the type of organism. The breadth of organisms with characterized bio-trans formations is also cataloged and discussed. We further debate if uranium biotransformations provide bio-protection or bio-benefit to the microbe and highlight the need for more work in the field to understand if microbes use uranium reduction for energy gain and growth, as having the ability is separate from exercising it. The presentation centers on the fundamental drivers for these processes with an additional exposition of the essential contribution of inorganic chemistry techniques to the molecular characterization of these biological processes.

Uranium, Reduction, Bio-Sorption, Proteobacteria

Majumder, E. and Wall, J. (2017) Uranium Bio-Transformations: Chemical or Biological Processes?. Open Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 7, 28-60. doi: 10.4236/ojic.2017.72003.