Assessment of Arthrobacter oxydans Subcellular Structural Stability in Response to Metal Action using Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Abstract

Despite significant efforts in recent years to clean up the environment, pollution remains a major issue. Bioremediation is the most effective and ecologically friendly way to clean and regenerate chemically polluted environments. Microorganisms’ biostabilization of soluble and insoluble forms of hazardous contaminants can be employed to remediate areas contaminated with heavy metals. Understanding how contaminants affect and disrupt intracellular structures and functions is a prerequisite to using microorganisms. The study focuses on the exposure of soil bacteria A. oxydans to Cu (II) and Cs (I). The stability of subcellular structures and intracellular processes leading to cell death or adaptation were assessed using the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) method. The DSC could lay out in sequence the complex series of denaturation events that take place when cells are heated. The DSC analysis provided the possibility to verify the character of the studied metal action at the whole bacteria cell level at the early stage of metal action.