Production of calcite nanocrystal by a urease-positive strain of enterobacter ludwigii and study of its structure by SEM.

The present research aimed at evaluating the effects of urease enzyme and increasing pH on calcite nanocrystal formation. Unlike some researches, the results showed that CaCO3 precipitation is not a general phenomenon among the bacteria and if a bacterium has not this ability, it will not be able to produce calcite even with an increase in pH. All urease-positive bacteria had this ability, while only some urease-negative bacteria were able to produce calcite. Production and characterization of nanocrystals on precipitating medium were shown primarily by light microscopy and then confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Crystallite particle size was determined using Scherrer formula that was sub-100-nm in all samples. Based on qualitative and quantitative studies, strain C8 was selected as the best calcite-producing strain. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that this isolate has 99 % similarity with Enterobacter ludwigii. 16S rRNA sequence of isolate was deposited in GenBank with accession number JX666242. The morphology and exact composition of nanocrystalline particles were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). According to data obtained by SEM, we suggest that nanocrystals of CaCO3 adhere to bacteria and each other to form small aggregates and then complex crystalline networks to trap bacteria. Many holes are present in these crystalline networks that seem to be due to the aggregation of nanocrystals.