Joël Brugger

Bio: Joël Brugger is an academic researcher from Monash University, Clayton campus. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hydrothermal circulation & Pyrite. The author has an hindex of 50, co-authored 271 publications receiving 7618 citations. Previous affiliations of Joël Brugger include École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne & University of Adelaide.

Mechanisms of gold biomineralization in the bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans

Abstract: While the role of microorganisms as main drivers of metal mobility and mineral formation under Earth surface conditions is now widely accepted, the formation of secondary gold (Au) is commonly attributed to abiotic processes Here we report that the biomineralization of Au nanoparticles in the metallophillic bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 is the result of Au-regulated gene expression leading to the energy-dependent reductive precipitation of toxic Au(III)-complexes C metallidurans, which forms biofilms on Au grains, rapidly accumulates Au(III)-complexes from solution Bulk and microbeam synchrotron X-ray analyses revealed that cellular Au accumulation is coupled to the formation of Au(I)-S complexes This process promotes Au toxicity and C metallidurans reacts by inducing oxidative stress and metal resistances gene clusters (including a Au-specific operon) to promote cellular defense As a result, Au detoxification is mediated by a combination of efflux, reduction, and possibly methylation of Au-complexes, leading to the formation of Au(I)-C-compounds and nanoparticulate Au0 Similar particles were observed in bacterial biofilms on Au grains, suggesting that bacteria actively contribute to the formation of Au grains in surface environments The recognition of specific genetic responses to Au opens the way for the development of bioexploration and bioprocessing tools

Invisible gold in arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite from a multistage Archaean gold deposit: Sunrise Dam, Eastern Goldfields Province, Western Australia

Abstract: The Sunrise Dam gold mine (11.1 Moz Au) is the largest deposit in the Archaean Laverton Greenstone Belt (Eastern Goldfields Province, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia). The deposit is characterized by multiple events of fluid flow leading to repeated alteration and mineralization next to a major crustal-scale structure. The Au content of arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite from four mineralizing stages (D1, D3, D4a, and D4b) and from different structural and lithostratigraphic environments was measured using in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Pyrite contains up to 3,067 ppm Au (n = 224), whereas arsenopyrite contains up to 5,767 ppm (n = 19). Gold in arsenopyrite (D4a stage) was coprecipitated and remained as “invisible gold” (nanoparticles and/or lattice-bound) during subsequent deformation events. In contrast, gold in pyrite is present not only as “invisible gold” but also as micrometer-size inclusions of native gold, electrum, and Au(Ag)–tellurides. Pristine D1 and D3 arsenian pyrite contains relatively low Au concentrations (≤26 ppm). The highest Au concentrations occur in D4a arsenian-rich pyrite that has recrystallized from D3 pyrite. Textures show that this recrystallization proceeded via a coupled dissolution–reprecipitation process, and this process may have contributed to upgrading Au grades during D4a. In contrast, Au in D4b pyrite shows grain-scale redistribution of “invisible” gold resulting in the formation of micrometer-scale inclusions of Au minerals. The speciation of Au at Sunrise Dam and the exceptional size of the deposit at province scale result from multiple fluid flow and multiple Au-precipitating mechanisms within a single plumbing system.

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Abstract: Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The ‘Biomes of Australian Soil Environments’ (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function. BASE currently provides amplicon sequences and associated contextual data for over 900 sites encompassing all Australian states and territories, a wide variety of bioregions, vegetation and land-use types. Amplicons target bacteria, archaea and general and fungal-specific eukaryotes. The growing database will soon include metagenomics data. Data are provided in both raw sequence (FASTQ) and analysed OTU table formats and are accessed via the project’s data portal, which provides a user-friendly search tool to quickly identify samples of interest. Processed data can be visually interrogated and intersected with other Australian diversity and environmental data using tools developed by the ‘Atlas of Living Australia’. Developed within an open data framework, the BASE project is the first Australian soil microbial diversity database. The database will grow and link to other global efforts to explore microbial, plant, animal, and marine biodiversity. Its design and open access nature ensures that BASE will evolve as a valuable tool for documenting an often overlooked component of biodiversity and the many microbe-driven processes that are essential to sustain soil function and ecosystem services.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

Abstract: There is a special reason for reviewing this book at this time: it is the 50th edition of a compendium that is known and used frequently in most chemical and physical laboratories in many parts of the world. Surely, a publication that has been published for 56 years, withstanding the vagaries of science in this century, must have had something to offer. There is another reason: while the book is a standard fixture in most chemical and physical laboratories, including those in medical centers, it is not as frequently seen in the laboratories of physician's offices (those either in solo or group practice). I believe that the Handbook can be useful in those laboratories. One of the reasons, among others, is that the various basic items of information it offers may be helpful in new tests, either physical or chemical, which are continuously being published. The basic information may relate

Metals, minerals and microbes: geomicrobiology and bioremediation

Abstract: Microbes play key geoactive roles in the biosphere, particularly in the areas of element biotransformations and biogeochemical cycling, metal and mineral transformations, decomposition, bioweathering, and soil and sediment formation. All kinds of microbes, including prokaryotes and eukaryotes and their symbiotic associations with each other and 'higher organisms', can contribute actively to geological phenomena, and central to many such geomicrobial processes are transformations of metals and minerals. Microbes have a variety of properties that can effect changes in metal speciation, toxicity and mobility, as well as mineral formation or mineral dissolution or deterioration. Such mechanisms are important components of natural biogeochemical cycles for metals as well as associated elements in biomass, soil, rocks and minerals, e.g. sulfur and phosphorus, and metalloids, actinides and metal radionuclides. Apart from being important in natural biosphere processes, metal and mineral transformations can have beneficial or detrimental consequences in a human context. Bioremediation is the application of biological systems to the clean-up of organic and inorganic pollution, with bacteria and fungi being the most important organisms for reclamation, immobilization or detoxification of metallic and radionuclide pollutants. Some biominerals or metallic elements deposited by microbes have catalytic and other properties in nanoparticle, crystalline or colloidal forms, and these are relevant to the development of novel biomaterials for technological and antimicrobial purposes. On the negative side, metal and mineral transformations by microbes may result in spoilage and destruction of natural and synthetic materials, rock and mineral-based building materials (e.g. concrete), acid mine drainage and associated metal pollution, biocorrosion of metals, alloys and related substances, and adverse effects on radionuclide speciation, mobility and containment, all with immense social and economic consequences. The ubiquity and importance of microbes in biosphere processes make geomicrobiology one of the most important concepts within microbiology, and one requiring an interdisciplinary approach to define environmental and applied significance and underpin exploitation in biotechnology.