Aluminum detoxification mechanism in Pseudomonas fluorescens is dependent on iron

The soil microbe Pseudomonas fluorescens has been shown to detoxify aluminum by the elaboration of a soluble metabolite where the trivalent metal is sequestered [Appanna and St.Pierre, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 24 (1994) 327-332]. The inclusion of 5 mM iron in the growth medium elicited an entirely disparate detoxification strategy. In this instance, the two trivalent metals were immobilized in a gelatinous lipid-rich residue. Dialysis and ultracentrifugation studies indicated that the test metals were being transformed from early stages of growth and were associated with phosphatidylethanolamine. However, at 45 h of cellular multiplication, most of the metals were deposited as an insoluble residue. X-ray fluorescence analyses identified the constituents of this mineral essentially as aluminum, iron and phosphorus. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis of the dialysate, isolated at 35 h of microbial growth, revealed thread-like structures associated with nodule-like bodies that were rich in the two test metals. Transmission electron microscopic studies aided in the visualization of iron and aluminum inclusions within the bacterial cells.