Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Clays and Clay Minerals Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Clays and Clay Minerals; April 2009; v. 57; no. 2; p. 205-212; DOI: 10.1346/CCMN.2009.0570207
© 2009 Clay Minerals Society
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Alimova, A.
Right arrow Articles by Gottlieb, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

BACTERIA-CLAY INTERACTION: STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN SMECTITE INDUCED DURING BIOFILM FORMATION

Alexandra Alimova1, A. Katz1, Nicholas Steiner2, Elizabeth Rudolph2, Hui Wei3, Jeffrey C. Steiner2 and Paul Gottlieb3,*

1 Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031, USA
2 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031, USA
3 Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031, USA

* E-mail address of corresponding author: pgottl{at}med.cuny.edu

Bacteria play an important role in determining the properties and behavior of clay minerals in natural environments and such interactions have great potential for creating stable biofilms and carbon storage sites in soils, but our knowledge of these interactions are far from complete. The purpose of this study was to understand better the effects of bacteria-generated biofilms on clay interlayer expansion. Mixtures of a colloidal, 2-water hectorite clay and Pseudomonas syringae in a minimal media suspension evolve into a polysaccharide-rich biofilm aggregate in time-series experiments lasting up to 1 week. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that upon aggregation, the clay undergoes an initial interlayer contraction. Short-duration experiments, up to 72 h, result in a decrease in the d001 value from 1.50 to 1.26 nm. The initial interlayer contraction is followed in long-duration (up to 1 week) experiments by an expansion of the d001 value of 1.84 nm. The expansion is probably a result of large, biofilm-produced, polymeric molecules being emplaced in the interlayer site. The resultant organo-clay could provide a possible storage medium for carbon in a microbial colony setting.

Key Words: Bacteria-clay Interaction • Biofilms • Clay Interlayer • Smectite • Polysaccharides • Pseudomonas syringae






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Clay Minerals Society