Enrichment and isolation of Flavobacterium strains with tolerance to high concentrations of cesium ion

Interest in the interaction of microorganisms with cesium ions (Cs+) has arisen, especially in terms of their potent ability for radiocesium bioaccumulation and their important roles in biogeochemical cycling. Although high concentrations of Cs+ display toxic effects on microorganisms, there have been only limited reports for Cs+-tolerant microorganisms. Here we report enrichment and isolation of Cs+-tolerant microorganisms from soil microbiota. Microbial community analysis revealed that bacteria within the phylum Bacteroidetes, especially Flavobacterium spp., dominated in enrichment cultures in the medium supplemented with 50 or 200 mM Cs+, while Gammaproteobacteria was dominant in the control enrichment cultures (in the presence of 50 and 200 mM K+ instead of Cs+). The dominant Flavobacterium sp. was successfully isolated from the enrichment culture and was closely related to Flavobacterium chungbukense with 99.5% identity. Growth experiments clearly demonstrated that the isolate has significantly higher tolerance to Cs+ compared to its close relatives, suggesting the Cs+-tolerance is a specific trait of this strain, but not a universal trait in the genus Flavobacterium. Measurement of intracellular K+ and Cs+ concentrations of the Cs+-tolerant isolate and its close relatives suggested that the ability to maintain low intracellular Cs+ concentration confers the tolerance against high concentrations of external Cs+.