Active fluid with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans: correlations between swimming and the oxidation route

To explore engineering platforms towards 'active bacterial baths', we grow and characterize native and commercial strains of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans to promote swimming locomotion. Three different energy sources were used, namely elemental sulfur, ferrous sulfate, and pyrite. The characteristics of the culture, such as pH, Eh, and the concentration of cells and ions, are monitored to seek correlations between the oxidation route and the transport mechanism. We found that only elemental sulfur induces swimming mobility in the commercial DSMZ - 24,419 strain, while ferrous sulfate and the sulfide mineral, pyrite, did not activate swimming on any strain. The bacterial mean squared displacement and the mean velocity are measured to provide a quantitative description of the bacterial mobility. We found that, even if the A. ferrooxidans strain is grown in a sulfur-rich environment, it preferentially oxidizes iron when an iron-based material is included in the media. Similar to other species, once the culture pH decreases below 1.2, the active locomotion is inhibited. The engineering control and activation of swimming in bacterial cultures offer fertile grounds towards applications of active suspensions such as energy-efficient bioleaching, mixing, drug delivery, and bio-sensing.