Study on biogenic acid-mediated enhanced leaching of lepidolite by Aspergillus niger based on transcriptomics

The synergistic effect between microorganisms with different modes of action can improve the leaching efficiency. In this study, biogenic acid was extracted from bacterial metabolites to induce fungal secretion, strengthen fungal leaching, and reveal the microscopic mechanism of biogenic acid stimulating fungal metabolic synthesis through transcriptome analysis. The results showed that the addition of biogenic acid increased the biomass and metabolic activity of Aspergillus Niger, changed the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances, enhanced the dissolution of mineral surface, and increased the leaching rate. A total of 3556 up-regulated and 2225 down-regulated differential genes were identified in Aspergillus Niger spores by transcriptome analysis after the addition of biogenic acid, with significant functional enrichment mainly related to organic acid metabolism. These findings suggest that biogenic acid have a beneficial catalytic effect on Aspergillus Niger, providing understanding and support for the interaction mechanism between different strains of combined leaching.