Project description:Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) refers to the biogeochemical process in which calcium carbonate is precipitated by altering the local geochemical environment (Mortensen et al. 2011). These alterations occur as a by-product of common microbial metabolic activities by increasing the local carbonate content as well as pH thereby saturating the solution in respect to carbonate. To better understand the microbial ecology of MICP on a community level in natural environments, we chose to evaluate microbial communities derived from travertine adjacent to Crystal Geyser (CG), Utah. CG is a cold-driven, CO2 rich geyser which is surrounded by colorful travertine that has been suggested to be generated through microbial processes. We used a cultivation-independent, multi-omics approach combined with geochemical measurements to investigate metabolic pathways and physiologies potentially involved in MICP at CG. We collected samples from the top 20 cm of travertine adjacent to Crystal Geyser, Utah in November 2019 and June 2021 (38.9384° N, 110.1354° W) wearing gloves at all times. We sampled 1 m away from the borehole (CG-1) and 10 m away from the borehole (CG-10). We preserved all collected samples in RNAlater-like solution (Menke et al., 2017, Front. Microbiol. 8) in a 1:10 sediment: RNAlater-like solution ratio as previously validated (Jensen et al. (2021, Micro. Spec. 2021, 9:2)
2024-11-18 | PXD041379 | Pride
Project description:Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation in paleo accretions
Project description:We developed a microbial catalytic concept and strategy to prepare calcium carbonate with micro/nanostructures on the surface of bioceramics to improve bone-forming bioactivity. It involves three processes: bacterial adhesion on biomaterials, production of carbonate assisted with bacteria, nucleation and growth of calcium carbonate nano-crystals on the surface of bioceramics. The microbially catalyzed biominerals exhibited relatively uniform micro/nanostructures on both 2D and 3D CaSiO3 bioceramics. The descriptive analysis of RNA-sequencing revealed that the topographic and chemical cues presented by microbially catalyzed micro/nanostructures could stimulate the biological processes including adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. The study offers a microbially catalytic concept and strategy of fabricating micro/nanostructured biomaterials for tissue regeneration.
Project description:Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) is a non-crystalline form of calcium carbonate, which is composed of aggregated nano-size primary particles. Here, we wanted to evaluate how ACC affects gene expression in a human lung cancer cell line (A549).