Patent ID: 8492093

Claim:
Method to identify and quantify environmental microorganisms useful in biomining processes, wherein said method comprises the steps of: (a) extracting DNA from a sample; (b) quantifying the extracted DNA; (c) performing a quantitative PCR (qPCR) technique, using said DNA sample, and specific primers selected from SEQ ID No. 4 to SEQ ID No. 407 for each taxon to be determined, where taxons are selected from: i. Bacteria: Acidiphilium sp., Leptospirillum sp., Sulfobacillus sp., Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans ; and ii. Archaea: Acidianus sp., Ferroplasma sp, Metallosphaera sp, Sulfolobus sp. and Thermoplasma sp.; (d) calculating the number of microorganisms in the sample that belong to each of the analyzed taxons according to formula (3) N Cell / ( mL ) ⁢ ⁢ or ⁢ ⁢ ( g ) = Q N ⁢ ⁢ ° ⁢ ⁢ molecules * T ng C molecules / cell * U ng * Cm ( mL ) ⁢ ⁢ or ⁢ ⁢ ( g ) ( 3 ) wherein: N=Estimated Concentration of microorganisms; Q=Number of molecules of taxon specific DNA input in the qPCR as determined by said qPCR; T=Total DNA isolated from original sample; U=Amount of DNA used in the qPCR reaction; C=Number of molecules or copies by genome of the specific DNA fragment detected; and Cm=Amount in “g” or “ml” of the processed sample.