ATR–FTIR spectroscopic evidence for biomolecular phosphorus and carboxyl groups facilitating bacterial adhesion to iron oxides

•Live cell adhesion to Fe-oxides facilitated by P-containing and carboxyl groups.•Inner-sphere FeOP bonds important for initial cell attachment to Fe-oxides.•Carboxyl binding to Fe-oxides via mixed inner- and outer-sphere mechanisms. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been used to probe the binding of bacteria to hematite (α-Fe2O3) and goethite (α-FeOOH). In situ ATR–FTIR experiments with bacteria (Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli), mixed amino acids, polypeptide extracts, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and a suite of model compounds were conducted. These compounds represent carboxyl, catecholate, amide, and phosphate groups present in siderophores, amino acids, polysaccharides, phospholipids, and DNA. Due in part to the ubiquitous presence of carboxyl groups in biomolecules, numerous IR peaks corresponding to outer-sphere or unbound (1400cm−1) and inner-sphere (1310–1320cm−1) coordinated carboxyl groups are noted following reaction of bacteria and biomolecules with α-Fe2O3 and α-FeOOH. However, the data also reveal that the presence of low-level amounts (i.e., 0.45–0.79%) of biomolecular phosphorous groups result in strong IR bands at ∼1043cm−1, corresponding to inner-sphere FeOP bonds, underscoring the importance of bacteria associated P-containing groups in biomolecule and cell adhesion. Spectral comparisons also reveal slightly greater POFe contributions for bacteria (Pseudomonad, E. coli) deposited on α-FeOOH, as compared to α-Fe2O3. This data demonstrates that slight differences in bacterial adhesion to Fe oxides can be attributed to bacterial species and Fe-oxide minerals. However, more importantly, the strong binding affinity of phosphate in all bacteria samples to both Fe-oxides results in the formation of inner-sphere FeOP bonds, signifying the critical role of biomolecular P in the initiation of bacterial adhesion.