MICROBIAL PATHWAYS OF IRON TRANSFORMATION IN WAR-AFFECTED SOIL

As a result of military operations, soils are contaminated with shell debris and shrapnel, primarily composed of iron. Therefore, there is a strong need to understand the pathways of iron transformation in soil and the role of microorganisms in this process. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between soil microbiomes and ferromagnetic iron fractions that simulate materials originating from shells and mines. Cultivation of microorganisms from Ukrainian chernozem under anaerobic conditions in the liquid phase revealed that introducing the microbiome along with the starch-containing substrate (potatoes) led to a 120-fold increase in the mobilization and stabilization of soluble iron compounds compared to the control. This process resulted in concentrations of soluble Fe(II) exceeding 1 g/L within 20 days, highlighting the effectiveness of microbial organic acids as chelating agents. In contrast, aerobic cultivation in soil produced the amount of soluble iron compounds comparable to the control without added iron, indicating the assimilation of chelated compounds into microbial metabolic pathways