National Institute Of Oceanography( NIO ) - Marine Bacteria useful for detoxification of heavy metals

Marine Bacteria useful for detoxification of heavy metals

Industrial pollution is a serious environmental concern, certain heavy metals like mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are known to cause severe damage to living organisms and human beings. They are highly toxic, non-biodegradable and present in most waste-materials getting into the environment. Marine bacterial strains highly resistant to Hg, Cd and Pb have been investigated by NIO researchers to assess their potential to remove these metallic ions from their growth medium. Apart from detoxifying Hg from their growth medium either by precipitating it as sulfide or by volatalization, most of the tested isolates removed Cd and Pb from their growth media. These findings make the researchers at NIO to believe that the study of bacterial resistance to these heavy metals is of practical significance in pollution bioremediation. The16S rRNA-gene sequences from 13 bacterial isolates highly resistant to mercury suggest that they belong to Alcaligenes faecalis, Bacillus pumilus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Brevibacterium iodinium. The PCR analysis indicated the presence of putative mer A gene fragments in 9 isolates and many of these isolates were capable of volatilizing mercury. To consult original article, refer :
De, J.; Ramaiah, N.; Vardanyan, L. Detoxification of toxic heavy metals by marine bacteria highly resistant to mercury Mar. Biotechnol.: 10(4); 2008; 471-477

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