Phosphorus additives driving the bacterial community succession during Bacillus spp. remediation of the uranium tailings

Abstract

Uranium tailings discharged into uranium tailings ponds could generate environmental pollution issues. Microbial-induced phosphate mineralization could reduce the release of uranium, in turn effectively managing pollution. However, it is unclear that how the phosphorus additives affect the microbial structure of uranium tailings under biomineralization. Herein, we evaluate the microbial community succession during Bacillus spp. remediation of uranium tailings, when adding hydroxyapatite (HS) and β-glycerol phosphate pentahydrate (GP). The results show that phosphorus additives effectively changed pH and uranium leaching concentration, significantly increased bacterial richness, and promoted microbial community succession, whilst promoting actinobacteria to Firmicutes and Proteobacteria populations. The two additives influenced the bacterial community succession patterns differently, with GP eliciting the greater enhancement. Additionally, GP enhanced the growth of core species and recognized the phylum firmicutes as a crucial taxon. The abundance of Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Desulfotomaculum, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_12 was higher in GP treatments, indicating the substantial roles played by these genera in the microbial community. The results provide evidence of the involvement of the two phosphorus additives in bioremediation and bacterial community perturbations and thus provide new insights into the biomineralization technologies for uranium tailings.