Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Toxic effect of heavy metal metals in polluted rivers has been a major concern as they pose threat to the flora and fauna. The chemical methods of heavy metal removal from industrial effluents which are added to rivers are expensive and inefficient. Bacteria may serve as cost effective bio-remediation tools for heavy metal removal. Thus the present study was envisaged to isolate and characterize heavy metal tolerant gram negative bacteria from polluted Yamuna water, Delhi, India. Bacterial colonies were isolated from water sample collected from different sites. Colonies with different morphologies were selected and metal tolerance concentration (MTC) was determined. The two isolates selected on the basis of MTC values were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular (16S rRNA gene sequencing) methods. Besides, growth kinetics, co-metal tolerance and antibiotic resistance were also determined. The identified isolates were tolerant to cadmium (3000 μg/ml) and nickel (2000 μg/ml), respectively. Besides the isolates were co tolerant to Cd (3000 μg/ml) and Ni (2000 μg/ml) resistance to various antibiotics. Scanning electron microscopy clearly revealed change in morphological pattern in isolates on exposure to 2000 μg/ml Nickle and Cadmium (3000 μg/ml). The identified heavy metal tolerant bacteria could be useful for the bioremediation of contaminated wastewater and industrial effluents.

Biography

Email: nbhagat@amity.edu