We have already thoroughly investigated the differences in Ln binding of LanM and short peptides. We showed, that LanM has a preference for Neodymium (the technological important lanthanide used in the strongest magnets known to man) and americium (a radioactive actinide with similar ionic radius to Neodymium). The short peptides based on the metal binding sites in LanM have a lower affinity for lanthanides but still a high selectivity over calcium.
Currently, a comprehensive characterization of the lanthanophore including its lanthanide coordination chemistry, is underway. The lanthanophore and the peptides are evaluated for the use in Ln separation and recycling. We are also looking deeper into the mechanism in which bacteria discriminate lanthanides (or f-elements in general, also including actinides); if we understand how nature does this, we can develop similar approaches to help us with the recycling of these crucial elements
Specifically:
Helena Singer, Robin Steudtner, Ignacio Sottorff, Björn Drobot, Arjan Pol, Huub J.M Op den Camp and Lena J. Daumann
Learning from Nature: Recovery and Recycling of rare earth elements by the extremophilic bacterium Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum, accepted pioneering investigator issue, Cover feature, Chem. Comm. 2023, in production
https://pubs.rsc.org/doi/D3CC01341C(öffnet in neuem Fenster) This article describes and in-depth investigation of the capabilities to use bacteria to separate and recycle lanthanides. We have tested several mining wastewaters, Lanthanide containing End of life waste and minerals. Our bacterium was able to selectively catch the early lanthanides form these mixtures.
Helena Singer, Robin Steudtner, Andreas S. Klein, Carolin Rulofs, Cathleen Zeymer, Björn Drobot, Arjan Pol, N. Cecilia Martinez-Gomez, Huub J. M. Op den Camp, Lena J. Daumann, Minor Actinides Can Replace Essential Lanthanides in Bacterial Life First published: 19 April 2023
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202303669(öffnet in neuem Fenster) VIP Article
This article describes how bacteria can make use of not only lanthanides, the 4-f elements, but also radioactive 5-f elements! This helps us understand what is important for selective uptake. Here, it seems to be driven by size of the elements and oxidation state. It is the first time, that it was shown that actinides can have a biological role. Find a press release to read more here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15213773/homepage/press/202321press.html(öffnet in neuem Fenster)Alexa M Zytnick, Nathan Michael Good, Colin C Barber, Manh Tri Phi, Sophie M. Gutenthaler, Wenjun Zhang, Lena J. Daumann, Norma Cecilia Martinez-Gomez Identification of a biosynthetic gene cluster encoding a novel lanthanide chelator in Methylorubrum extorquens AM1, bioRxiv 2022
https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.19.476857(öffnet in neuem Fenster)Here a first biosynthetic cluster for a lanthanophore is described. We synthesized different chelators and tested whether these would be structurally similar.
Sophie M. Gutenthaler, Satoru Tsushima, Robin Steudtner, Manuel Gailer, Anja Hoffmann-Röder, Björn Drobot*, Lena J. Daumann*, LanM Peptides – Unravelling the Binding Properties of the EFHand Loop Sequences Stripped from the Structural Corset, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022, 9, 4009-4021
LanM is a protein with high affinity for Lanthanides and actinides. Here, we looked closer at the EF-Hands, the metal binding sites of this protein detached form cooperative binding.
H. Singer, B. Drobot, C. Zeymer, R. Steudtner*, L. J. Daumann* Americium preferred: Lanmodulin, a natural lanthanide-binding protein favors an actinide over lanthanides, Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 15581-15587
LanM was shown to have not only exceptional binding capabilities for lanthanides, but also actinides. The affinity of lanthanides follows a remarkable trend, with Neodymium being one of the best binding lanthanides.
