Abstract

FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HEAVY METAL-INDUCED METABOLIC CHANGES IN THE THERMOPHILES

Sonali Patil* and Geetha Unnikrishnan

ABSTRACT

Structural and compositional features of cells of thermophiles under stressed and normal conditions were analysed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The structural spectroscopic information is considered together with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) analytical data on the content of the heavy metal cations (Co 2+ , Cu 2+ , Cr2+, Fe2+ Zn 2+ ) in the bacterial cells. As bacteria uptake all the five heavy metals from the culture media in significant amount, the metabolic changes in the bacterium was considerably differentiated by IR spectra. Spectra revealed that chemical compounds of various functional group were involved during accumulation of these heavy metals.

Keywords: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry; Heavy metal stress.