Bioleaching of mineral phases plays a crucial role in the mobility and availability of various elements, including selenium. Therefore, the leachability of selenium associated with the surfaces of ferric and manganese oxides and oxyhydroxides, the prevailing components of natural geochemical barriers, has been studied in the presence of filamentous fungus. Both geoactive phases were exposed to selenate and subsequently to growing fungus Aspergillus niger for three weeks. This common soil fungus has shown exceptional ability to alter the distribution and mobility of selenium in the presence of both solid phases. The fungus initiated the extensive bioextraction of selenium from the surfaces of amorphous ferric oxyhydroxides, while the hausmannite (Mn3O4) was highly susceptible to biodeterioration in the presence of selenium. This resulted in specific outcomes regarding the selenium, iron, and manganese uptake by fungus and residual selenium concentrations in mineral phases as well. The adverse effects of bioleaching on fungal growth are also discussed.

Department of Environment and Energy Jeonbuk National University Jeonju 54896 Jeonbuk Korea

Department of Environmental Engineering Faculty of Mining and Geology VŠB Technical University of Ostrava 17 Listopadu 15 2172 708 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Engineering Jeonbuk National University Jeonju 54896 Jeonbuk Korea

Institute of Agronomic Sciences Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Tr A Hlinku 2 949 76 Nitra Slovakia

Institute of Laboratory Research on Geomaterials Faculty of Natural Sciences Comenius University in Bratislava Mlynská Dolina Ilkovičova 6 842 15 Bratislava Slovakia

Institute of Molecular Biology Slovak Academy of Sciences Dúbravská Cesta 21 845 51 Bratislava Slovakia

Polymer Institute Slovak Academy of Sciences Dúbravská Cesta 9 845 41 Bratislava Slovakia

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Current Strategies for Selenium and Iodine Biofortification in Crop Plants