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posted by janrinok on Friday August 14 2015, @02:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the confusing-the-sciences dept.

Researchers developed a protein-based, genetically encodable system that can bind water-soluble uranium with exceedingly high affinity and selectivity. This also is the first time that a protein has been designed with these characteristics using exclusively natural amino acids.

This is the first known demonstration of a bacterial system used to mine ocean-based uranium that reduces the expense while increasing the selectivity of current methods available. The overall method developed could find broad applications in sequestration and bioremediation of water-soluble uranium and similar transuranic elements. This biotechnology method could also have similar applications to other low-concentration ions in solution.

Uranium plays an important role in the search for alternative energies to fossil fuels; however, uranium resources on land are limited. The oceans are estimated to contain 1,000 times as much uranium as is buried in deposits on land, but unfortunately, the uranium in the ocean is in the form of water-soluble uranyl (UO2 2+) which is present at a very low concentration (~13.7 nM). The uranyl is bound by carbonate and other anions, with the added complication that seawater also contains various metal ions at high concentrations, making separating the uranium extremely complex.

After years of trying to find an efficient and affordable way to extract uranyl, researchers at the University of Chicago, Peking University, and Argonne National Laboratory turned to biology. There are no naturally occurring proteins known to bind uranyl, but by adapting a computational screening strategy for protein-protein interactions, a potential uranyl-binding motif was designed. The scientists used the motif to search the Protein Data Bank for proteins that could accommodate or be adapted to accommodate uranyl. One candidate in initial binding experiments showed promise and was further optimized. The engineered, thermally stable protein called Super Uranyl-binding Protein (SUP) binds uranyl tightly (Kd of 7.4 femtomolar) and with high selectivity (>10,000-fold selectivity over other metal ions). The SUP was also confirmed to contain the computationally designed structural features through examination of the protein crystal structure. This protein can repeatedly sequester 30 to 60% of the uranyl in synthetic sea water and thus provides a much needed advance in the isolation of uranyl from seawater.


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 14 2015, @02:27PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 14 2015, @02:27PM (#222834) Journal
    Try lithium - not only more abundant than uranium, but would also make uranium less needed (e.g if cheap batteries are available or when, in only 20 years time, a commercial fusion reactor is built).
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  • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Friday August 14 2015, @02:37PM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Friday August 14 2015, @02:37PM (#222839) Homepage Journal

    ...just like it has been for 50 years now. Efficient and safe fission is here today, requiring only the political will to use it.

    That said, you're right enough about lithium. If this works for Uranium, similar processes ought to work for other metals. Including the so-called rare earths ("so-called" because they aren't rare at all, they just don't crop up in handy concentrations of ore).

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 4, Funny) by ikanreed on Friday August 14 2015, @02:42PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 14 2015, @02:42PM (#222841) Journal

      Political will is a non-renewable resource. The United States completely exhausted it's supply and is now fueling it's political machinery with the much more sustainable source: mindless outrage.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 14 2015, @02:50PM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 14 2015, @02:50PM (#222845) Journal
        It's not the will they exhausted, but the rational mind - this is why, as you said, the mindless rage.
        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:27AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:27AM (#223093)

        safe fission

        An oxymoron.
        When the first fail-safe nuke is actually built that can run for 40 years without any humans ever in the loop, do note that here.
        As long as humans are involved--specifically a for-profit corporation with immunity from financial liability via gov't waiver--corners will be cut and nukes will NEVER be safe.

        The United States [...] is now fueling [its] political machinery with the much more sustainable source: mindless outrage

        ...largely under the direction of an Aussie media magnate who doesn't care if USA implodes--as long as he can make a profit from that.

        ...and an apostrophe is never needed to make a pronoun possessive.

        -- gewg_