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Current Aspects of Metal Resistant Bacteria in Bioremediation: From Genes to Ecosystem

  • Chapter
Book cover Management of Microbial Resources in the Environment

Abstract

Global industrialization has resulted in a widespread contamination of the environment with persistent addition of organic and inorganic wastes. The contaminants enter the environment either by natural processes or through human activity. The natural contamination originates from excessive withering of minerals from rocks or displacement from the groundwater or subsurface layers of the soil. Disposal of industrial effluents, sewage sludge, deposition of air-borne industrial wastes, military operations, mining, land-fill operations, industrial solid-waste disposal and the growing use of agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers are sources of human-assisted contamination of the environment. Heavy metals exert some important roles in some biochemical reactions, being essential to the growth and development of microorganisms, plant and animals. However, in high concentrations they can form unspecific compounds, creating cytotoxic effects. They exhibit a range of toxicities towards microorganisms, depending on physico-chemical factors, speciation etc., while toxic effects can arise from natural processes in the soil, and on microbial communities are more commonly associated with anthropogenic contamination or redistribution of toxic metals in terrestrial ecosystems. A variety of mechanisms have been implicated in the adaptation, tolerance, and resistance of microorganisms to a metal pollutant: precipitation of metals as phosphates, carbonates, and/or sulfides, volatilization via methylation or ethylation, physical exclusion of electronegative components in membranes and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), energy-dependent metal efflux systems, and intracellular sequestration with low molecular weight, cysteine-rich proteins. The efficiency of these mechanisms depends on many parameters, among which the metal itself, the species studied, time, temperature, pH, presence of plant communities near the microfauna, interactions of the metal with other compounds. Most microorganisms are known to have specific genes for resistance to toxic ions of heavy metals. This chapter summarizes the recent progress in the field of molecular microbial ecology of metal resistant bacteria with emphasis that how the genetic capacity of the organisms can be exploited for the remediation of heavy metal pollution. Genetic improvement may help to develop the field of existing methodologies to decontamination processes are also discussed in the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Farhana Masood & Abdul Malik

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  1. Farhana Masood
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  2. Abdul Malik
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Correspondence to Farhana Masood .

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  1. Department of Agricultural Microbiology Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Abdul Malik (Visiting Professor/Scientist) (Visiting Professor/Scientist)

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Abdul Malik (Visiting Professor/Scientist) & Elisabeth Grohmann (Visiting Professor/Scientist) & 

  3. Center of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Madalena Alves

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Masood, F., Malik, A. (2013). Current Aspects of Metal Resistant Bacteria in Bioremediation: From Genes to Ecosystem. In: Malik, A., Grohmann, E., Alves, M. (eds) Management of Microbial Resources in the Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5931-2_11

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