Uranium contamination mediating soil and ore microbial community assembly at four mining sites, South China.

ABSTRACT: Uranium mining presents significant environmental challenges, particularly through radiological contamination affecting soil and water bodies. While soil microbial communities are known to be influenced by geochemical factors like pH and nutrient availability, their responses to severe uranium contamination in mine tailing environments remain poorly understood. This study investigated microbial community distributions in soils and uranium ores at four uranium mining sites in South China to explore microbial adaptations to uranium contamination. Uranium concentrations ranged from 170 to 18,000 mg/kg, with the most severely contaminated samples dominated by Cyanobacteria, which comprised up to 49.17% of the microbial community. Proteobacteria, such as Sphingomonas, were also abundant,

SUBMITTER: Chen H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11879985 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature