Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic characterisation of heavy metal-induced metabolic changes in the plant-associated soil bacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp7

Structural and compositional features of whole cells of the plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 under standard and heavy metal-stressed conditions are analysed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and compared with the FT-Raman spectroscopic data obtained previously [J. Mol. Struct. 563–564 (2001) 199]. The structural spectroscopic information is considered together with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) analytical data on the content of the heavy metal cations (Co²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺) in the bacterial cells. As a bacterial response to heavy metal stress, all the three metals, being taken up by bacterial cells from the culture medium (0.2 mM) in significant amounts (ca. 0.12, 0.48 and 4.2 mg per gram of dry biomass for Co, Cu and Zn, respectively), are shown to induce essential metabolic changes in the bacterium revealed in the spectra, including the accumulation of polyester compounds in bacterial cells and their enhanced hydration affecting certain IR vibrational modes of functional groups involved.