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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.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 14 2015, @02:27PM
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Friday August 14 2015, @02:37PM
...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
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
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:27AM
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_
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 14 2015, @02:35PM
Like in UO<sub>2</sub><sup>2+</sup>
Or try unicode: UO₂²⁺
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by ledow on Friday August 14 2015, @03:31PM
Still can't over the novelty of that.
So not used to a Slash-based site not accepting Unicode...
Hey, look, I can do British pound-sign properly: £
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2015, @03:17PM
Next steps --
1. Work out a genetic process for creating these proteins
2. Insert gene into e coli
.
.
.
n. Profit?? or add massive amounts of soluble uranium to the ocean food chain?
(Score: 2) by mr_mischief on Friday August 14 2015, @05:28PM
I doubt anyone's planning to put this into the oceans at large. I think the more likely goal would be to bring some seawater into a manmade reservoir, grow this stuff in it, extract the uranium for use as fission fuel, and evaporate out (or reverse osmosis filter, or distill, or ...) the water without the bacteria. Nobody wants to concentrate uranium in an ocean current and have to go track it down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2015, @08:56PM
Good points on running a batch process in a reservoir. That seems fairly safe.
Since the concentration of Uranium in sea water is very low, I was imagining some kind of continuous process where sea water is run through a plant, with enough holding time for the "bugs" to do their job. Then all it takes is one slip with the output filtering and the bugs are loose in the ocean...
Maybe the inventors will be clever enough to design "bugs" that live at some elevated temperature...and die if they are exposed to colder water in the ocean.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:30AM
Nobody wants to concentrate uranium in an ocean current
Clearly, you haven't been paying attention to what megacorporations have been doing to the ecosystem for many many decades.
and have to go track it down.
Clearly, you didn't notice that after the Deepwater Horizon blowout and the subsequent devastation of the Gulf ecosystem, USA.gov ASSISTED in the coverup of the extent of the damage, hasn't required the responsible parties to actually clean up the mess, and has only delivered wrist slaps.
...and, BTW, while oil dispersant may make things -appear- better (out of sight; out of mind), it doesn't improve the situation, IT ACTUALLY MAKES THINGS WORSE. [washingtonpost.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday August 16 2015, @05:52PM
Why go to such extremes when we should just develop thorium reactors?