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Detection of urease and carbonic anhydrase activity using a rapid and economical field test to assess microbially-induced carbonate precipitation

View ORCID ProfileFernando Medina Ferrer, View ORCID ProfileKathryn Hobart, View ORCID ProfileJake V. Bailey
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.10.902379
Fernando Medina Ferrer
1Department of Earth Sciences, College of Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. John T. Tate Hall, 116 Church Street SE, Room 150, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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  • For correspondence: medinaferrer@gmail.com baileyj@umn.edu
Kathryn Hobart
1Department of Earth Sciences, College of Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. John T. Tate Hall, 116 Church Street SE, Room 150, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
2Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. John T. Tate Hall, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
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Jake V. Bailey
1Department of Earth Sciences, College of Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. John T. Tate Hall, 116 Church Street SE, Room 150, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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  • For correspondence: medinaferrer@gmail.com baileyj@umn.edu
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ABSTRACT

Microbial precipitation of calcium carbonate has diverse engineering applications, from building and soil restoration, to carbon sequestration. Urease-mediated ureolysis and CO2 (de)hydration by carbonic anhydrase (CA) are known for their potential to precipitate carbonate minerals, yet many microbial community studies rely on marker gene or metagenomic approaches that are unable to determine in situ activity. Here, we developed fast and cost-effective tests for the field detection of urease and CA activity using pH-sensitive strips inside microcentrifuge tubes that change color in response to the reaction products of urease (NH3) and CA (CO2). Samples from a saline lake, a series of calcareous fens, and ferrous springs were assayed in the field, finding relatively high urease activity in lake samples, whereas CA activity was only detected in a ferrous spring. Incubations of lake microbes with urea resulted in significantly higher CaCO3 precipitation compared to incubations with a urease inhibitor. Therefore, the rapid assay indicated an on-site active metabolism potentially mediating carbonate mineralization. Field urease and CA activity assays complement molecular approaches and facilitate the search for carbonate-precipitating microbes and their in situ activity, which could be applied toward agriculture, engineering and carbon sequestration technologies.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted January 11, 2020.
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Detection of urease and carbonic anhydrase activity using a rapid and economical field test to assess microbially-induced carbonate precipitation
Fernando Medina Ferrer, Kathryn Hobart, Jake V. Bailey
bioRxiv 2020.01.10.902379; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.10.902379
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Detection of urease and carbonic anhydrase activity using a rapid and economical field test to assess microbially-induced carbonate precipitation
Fernando Medina Ferrer, Kathryn Hobart, Jake V. Bailey
bioRxiv 2020.01.10.902379; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.10.902379

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