Studies on the distribution of bacterial isolates in rare earth environment.

ABSTRACT

Rare earth soil is precious, but very common across Arabian coast especially in Chavara, (Quilon district, Kerala) south west coast of India. They are widely distributed but usually occur in small amounts and enhance the soil properties. In the present study, 18 different bacterial isolates were identified from three different samples such as soil and biofilm formed on metal surfaces from the rare earth environment of Chavara using 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The accumulation of rare earth elements (REE) by microbes was studied using FT-IR analysis. In the FTIR spectrum of the test system, a peak at 1548 and 1449 cm-1 indicates the presence of aromatic nuclei (carboxylic acid), while C=C stretch for C-O-C group was noticed at 1237 cm-1. Thus significant variations in the peak position confirm the presence of carboxyl group and thus it was confirmed that rare earth elements induce the bacteria to produce carboxylic acid and thereby accumulate rare earth elements.