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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Essential Metal Uptake in Gram-negative Bacteria: X-ray Fluorescence, Radioisotopes, and Cell Fractionation
Published on: February 1, 2018
Intracellular minerals and metal deposits in prokaryotes
1Geomicrobiology Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0371, USA. kje@usc.edu
Abstract:
Thanks to the work of Terrance J. Beveridge and other pioneers in the field of metal-microbe interactions, prokaryotes are well known to sequester metals and other ions intracellularly in various forms. These forms range from poorly ordered deposits of metals to well-ordered mineral crystals. Studies on well-ordered crystalline structures have generally focused on intracellular organelles produced by magnetotactic bacteria that are ubiquitous in terrestrial and marine environments that precipitate Fe(3)O(4) or Fe(3)S(4), Fe-bearing minerals that have magnetic properties and are enclosed in intracellular membranes. In contrast, studies on less-well ordered minerals have focused on Fe-, As-, Mn-, Au-, Se- and Cd-precipitates that occur intracellularly. The biological and environmental function of these particles remains a matter of debate.
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Prokaryotic Cells
Like eukaryotic cells, all prokaryotic cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, have genetic material in the form of single, circular DNA, a cytoplasm that fills the interior of the cell, and ribosomes that synthesize proteins.
