TY - JOUR
T1 - Mercury-Resistant bacteria isolated from an estuarine ecosystem with detoxification potential
AU - Quintero, Marynes
AU - Zuluaga-Valencia, Sol D.
AU - Ríos-López, Lady Giselle
AU - Sánchez, Olga
AU - Bernal, Cesar A.
AU - Sepúlveda, Niza
AU - Gómez-León, Javier
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/12/19
Y1 - 2024/12/19
N2 - Mercury pollution is a significant environmental issue, primarily resulting from industrial activities, including gold mining extraction. In this study, 333 microorganisms were tested in increasing mercury concentrations, where 158 bacteria and 14 fungi were able to grow and remain viable at concentrations over 5.0 mg/L of mercuric chloride (II). One of the bacterial strains, Stenotrophomonas sp. INV PRT0231, isolated from the mouth of the San Juan River in the Chocó region in Colombia, showed a high mercury resistance level (MIC90 of 27 ± 9 mg/L), with a removal rate of 86.9%, an absorption rate of 1.2%, and a volatilization rate of 85.7% at pH 6.0 and 30.0 °C. The FTIR analysis showed changes in the functional groups, including fatty acid chains and methyl groups, proteins, and lipopolysaccharides associated with the carboxylate group (COO−), suggesting an important role of these biomolecules and their associated functional groups as mechanisms employed by the bacterium for mercury detoxification. Our study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms of mercury biotransformation in microbial environmental isolates to help develop bioremediation strategies to mitigate mercury pollution caused by anthropogenic activities.
AB - Mercury pollution is a significant environmental issue, primarily resulting from industrial activities, including gold mining extraction. In this study, 333 microorganisms were tested in increasing mercury concentrations, where 158 bacteria and 14 fungi were able to grow and remain viable at concentrations over 5.0 mg/L of mercuric chloride (II). One of the bacterial strains, Stenotrophomonas sp. INV PRT0231, isolated from the mouth of the San Juan River in the Chocó region in Colombia, showed a high mercury resistance level (MIC90 of 27 ± 9 mg/L), with a removal rate of 86.9%, an absorption rate of 1.2%, and a volatilization rate of 85.7% at pH 6.0 and 30.0 °C. The FTIR analysis showed changes in the functional groups, including fatty acid chains and methyl groups, proteins, and lipopolysaccharides associated with the carboxylate group (COO−), suggesting an important role of these biomolecules and their associated functional groups as mechanisms employed by the bacterium for mercury detoxification. Our study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms of mercury biotransformation in microbial environmental isolates to help develop bioremediation strategies to mitigate mercury pollution caused by anthropogenic activities.
KW - mercury detoxification
KW - Stenotrophomonassp
KW - volatilization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213216467&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/93b843c9-2aed-3223-9b2c-73d2242081f6/
UR - https://portalrecerca.uab.cat/en/publications/b764986e-a6a0-405f-b9b3-2dc8c2156d8f
U2 - 10.3390/microorganisms12122631
DO - 10.3390/microorganisms12122631
M3 - Article
C2 - 39770833
AN - SCOPUS:85213216467
SN - 2076-2607
VL - 12
JO - Microorganisms
JF - Microorganisms
IS - 12
M1 - 2631
ER -