Metal accumulation by bacteria with particular reference to dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria.

Dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria, genera Desulfovibrio and Desulfotomaculum, exhibit a superior ability, over assimilatory organisms, to extract three amounts of metals from culture media. This property does not appear to be solely a function of the presence of H2S. In media containing elevated amounts of Fe, electron dense particles, provisionally identified as FeS, are deposited within the cells of dissimilatory bacteria.