title: Comparative studies on metal biosorption by two strains of Cladosporium cladosporioides.
abstract: Two strains of a fungus, Cladosporium cladosporioides 1 and C. cladosporioides 2 showed different metal biosorption properties. Strain 1 showed preferential sorption of gold and silver, while strain 2 could bind metals such as copper and cadmium in addition to gold and silver. Strain 1 had a cell-wall hexosamine content of 0.1%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses indicated that nitrogen was not involved in metal biosorption by the strain. In strain 2 the cell-wall hexosamine content was 150 times that of strain 1. These results indicated that hexosamine was responsible for non-specific metal binding while cell-wall polymers other than hexosamines had a role in conferring selectivity in precious-metal binding.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbial Sciences, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Pethkar
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Paknikar
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry; D002963:Cladosporium / Q000378:metabolism*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008670:Metals / Q000378:metabolism*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D008055:Lipids; D008670:Metals; D011108:Polymers