VARIABILITY OF COORDINATION COMPLEXES OF COPPER ACCUMULATED WITHIN FUNGAL COLONY IN THE PRESENCE OF COPPER-CONTAINING MINERALS

The aim of work was to elucidate the mechanisms of bioaccumulation of copper leached from minerals by fungus Aspergillus niger with great bioremedial potential due to its ability to produce chelating metabolites and transform toxic metals and minerals. The special attention was paid to the chemical speciation of copper bioaccumulated within fungal colony in the process of fungal transformation of copper-containing minerals. Chemical speciation of copper within different parts of the fungal colony was studied using solid-state chemistry methods such as synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy providing information about the oxidation state of the target element, and its coordination environment. The analysis of the obtained X-ray absorption spectroscopy spectra was carried out using Fourier transforms of Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure regions, which correspond to the oscillating part of the spectrum to the right of the absorption edge. Results of this study showed that fungus A. niger was involved in the process of solubilization of copper-containing minerals resulted in leaching of mobile copper and its further immobilization by fungal biomass with variable coordination of accumulated copper within fungal colony which depended on the age and physiological/reproductive state of fungal mycelium. X-ray absorption spectroscopy data demonstrated that copper accumulated within outer zone of fungal colony with immature vegetative mycelium was coordinated with sulphur?containing ligands, in contrast to copper coordination with phosphate ligands within mature mycelium with profuse conidia in the central zone of the colony. The findings of this study not only broaden our understanding of the biogeochemical role of fungi but can also be used in the development of various fungal-based biometallurgy technologies such as bioremediation, bioaccumulation and bioleaching and in the assessment of their reliability. The main conclusion is that coordination environment of copper bioaccumulated within fungal biomass via the process of transformation of copper minerals is heterogeneous varying from sulphydryl to phosphate.