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Meta-ankoleite mineral

Meta-ankoleite is an IMA-approved potassium uranyl phosphate mineral, K(UO2)(PO4)·3H2O, approval 1963-013. The doubled formula K2(UO2)2(PO4)2·6H2O describes the same ideal composition. It is distinct from calcium meta-autunite, hydronium chernikovite, ammonium uramphite, dissolved uranium salts and elemental uranium. The laboratory evidence below is a source-assigned meta-ankoleite component of yeast-associated uranyl phosphate precipitates; overlapping diffraction matches and incomplete cation/hydration characterization prevent an unequivocal pure-species assignment. No uranium criticality designation is inherited.

Identifiers & Classification

System Identifier Label
IMA IMA:1963-013 Meta-ankoleite

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Yeast-associated precipitation with a meta-ankoleite diffraction assignment

biomineralization Microbial

Associated Organisms: Kluyveromyces lactis (NCBITaxon:28985)

Kluyveromyces lactis reported as IFO1267 formed cell-associated uranium-containing precipitates during growth with soluble uranyl nitrate and glycerol 2-phosphate as the sole supplied phosphorus source. The authors assigned the harvested solids to meta-ankoleite together with chernikovite, bassetite and uramphite by XRD. Organic-phosphate hydrolysis and cell-associated precipitation are consistent with phosphatase-mediated biomineralization, but no particular enzyme, gene or exclusive molecular pathway was tested. This record selects the K. lactis growth arm of a six-yeast study; its microscopy, phosphate assay and diffraction are related measures from that study, not independent demonstrations of phase-specific uranium recovery.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The accepted-manuscript Methods, printed pages 6-11, and Figure 3b specify modified Burkholder's medium with 30 mM glycerol 2-phosphate replacing KH2PO4 and 1 mM UO2(NO3)2, 100 mL medium in 250-mL flasks, 30 degrees C, 180 rpm, darkness and 120 h growth. Cells were first grown for 48 h in standard medium and then for 48 h in the source-described sucrose- and P-free equivalent medium before transfer; the standard recipe lists dextrose, so this carbon terminology is not silently reconciled. The standard medium contains trace KI and FeSO4, among other salts. No-P medium and uninoculated medium are specified as controls. The reported absence of significant abiotic precipitation is qualitative, without a numeric detection threshold or matched sterile XRD trace. Table 3 gives endpoint pH 5.5 for this K. lactis arm and 7.0 for its uninoculated counterpart. The study separately reacted pre-grown, washed cells with uranium for 48 h; those exposure images are not the 120-h growth-arm XRD. Samples were washed and vacuum-desiccated before characterization; hydration in the wet culture was not directly measured.
Curated Evidence Points:
Figure 2f shows precipitates associated with K. lactis after 120-h growth in the uranium/G2P medium; panels 2d-e show the separate water-control and post-growth uranium-exposure arms. Figure 3b overlays the K. lactis diffraction trace with patterns labelled meta-ankoleite, chernikovite, bassetite and uramphite. Table 5 reports the same mineral assignments. Methods specify uninoculated controls and report no significant precipitation from organic phosphorus substrates plus uranyl nitrate without yeasts. These observations support culture-associated uranyl phosphate precipitation with the reported phase assignment, rather than a pure meta-ankoleite product.
The source reports reference-pattern matching, without a refined phase fraction, resolved interlayer composition or direct water determination. Table 5 lists C, O, Al, P, S and U for the selected K. lactis G2P/1 mM uranium arm, without K or Fe; therefore its elemental analysis does not independently establish potassium meta-ankoleite or the co-assigned iron phase. The XRD row spans treatment columns, but Figure 3 expressly binds its trace to the 1 mM uranium/G2P growth arm; it is not transferred to every loading, phytic-acid condition or post-growth exposure. Table 4 gives a biomass tolerance index of 75.0% for this arm relative to its uranium-free G2P control, showing growth inhibition. That percentage and the phosphate-release assay are not uranium removal or mineral-recovery yields. Phosphatase involvement is inferred without enzyme inhibition, purified-enzyme or genetic tests. No mineral-specific uranium balance, isolated-product recovery, long-term retention test or industrial deployment is demonstrated.
Context_only Source: liang2015
This separate filamentous-fungus experiment explicitly states on pages 2067 and 2071 that related uranyl phosphates can have nearly identical diffraction patterns, so XRPD alone cannot unequivocally identify potassium uranyl phosphate or determine whether one or several phases occur; Figure 5 illustrates the overlapping matches. It supports retaining this identification limitation, not reassigning the 2016 yeast product or counting the earlier experiment as confirmation of an exact mineral yield.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. Meta-ankoleite row, PDF page 141; definitions and distribution terms on pages 1-2. Retained original bytes rechecked and official URL opened live on the access date.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-14)
  2. handbook_metaankoleite: Handbook of Mineralogy. Meta-ankoleite, version 1, 2001-2005. Complete one-page entry, including natural-specimen chemistry, ideal doubled formula and meta-autunite-group placement.
    https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/metaankoleite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-14)
  3. liang2016: Liang, Csetenyi and Gadd (2016). Uranium bioprecipitation mediated by yeasts utilizing organic phosphorus substrates. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 100, 5141-5151. DOI 10.1007/s00253-016-7327-9. Complete 35-page accepted-manuscript text inspected through the Dundee web parser, with all four original publisher figures and five publisher HTML tables inspected separately. A local full-article PDF was not acquired.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7327-9 (accessed 2026-10-14)
  4. liang2015: Liang et al. (2015). Uranium phosphate biomineralization by fungi. Environmental Microbiology 17, 2064-2075. DOI 10.1111/1462-2920.12771. Complete original PDF inspected; pages 2067 and 2071 and Figure 5 explicitly limit discrimination among related uranyl phosphates by XRPD.
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12771 (accessed 2026-10-14)
  5. ncbi_lactis: NCBI Taxonomy, taxon 28985, Kluyveromyces lactis, species. Current XML checked; this species mapping does not independently authenticate the source's IFO1267 culture.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=28985 (accessed 2026-10-14)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-14T21:50:48.863956+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Added authority-grounded meta-ankoleite identity and a qualified yeast-associated mixed uranyl-phosphate assignment, retaining unresolved phase composition, hydration, controls and recovery yield.

Record source: data/records/meta-ankoleite.yaml