Influence of oxygen on magnetosome formation in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans lives in aerobic environments where concentration of iron is extremely high and the pH is low. It can synthesize intra-cellular electron-dense magnetite, called magnetic-particle，which can be extensively used as bio-nano-materials. In order to explore the influence of oxygen on magnetosome formation in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, the different shaking frequency responses of feoB, mpsA, tonB and ABC gene were analyzed by using real-time PCR. Transmission electron microscopy was also used to analyze the magnetic-particle formed by this bacterium in different shaking frequencies. The result shows that the oxygen has some effect on the expression of the genes and the formation of the magnetic-particle, which lays the foundation for the deep research of the mechanism of the formation of magnetic-particle.