Calcium or Magnesium – Which Element Do Bacteria Prefer?

Members of the MSAGroup – Materials/Synthesis/Application team (Joanna Fronczyk – SGGW, Martyna Janek, and Wojciech Franus, Lublin University of Technology) along with Barbara Gieroba and Anna Sroka-Bartnicka (Medical University of Lublin) have published a study on a method for healing cement composites using microbiologically induced carbonate precipitation (MICP). The article focuses on evaluating the ability of the ureolytic bacteria Bacillus subtilis to precipitate carbonates in the presence of different calcium and magnesium compounds through ureolytic and non-ureolytic pathways, as well as the impact of these processes on the self-healing of cracks in cement composites. The conducted analyses reveal how various factors—bacterial presence, composition of repair solutions, and the Ca/Mg ion ratio in the system—affect the carbonate precipitation process. The authors also highlight differences in the course and efficiency of this process under controlled conditions and within cement mortar environment.
The study has been published in the prestigious journal Composites Part B: Engineering (IF = 12.7). Read the full article here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359836825002288