Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) presence and bioavailability in soils is a serious concern for cocoa producers. Cocoa plants can bioaccumulate Cd that can reach humans through the food chain, thus posing a threat to human health, as Cd is a highly toxic metal. Currently, microbiologically induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) by the ureolytic path has been proposed as an effective technique for Cd remediation. In this work, the Cd remediation potential and Cd resistance of two ureolytic bacteria, Serratia sp. strains 4.1a and 5b, were evaluated. The growth of both Serratia strains was inhibited at 4 mM Cd(II) in the culture medium, which is far higher than the Cd content that can be found in the soils targeted for remediation. Regarding removal efficiency, for an initial concentration of 0.15 mM Cd(II) in liquid medium, the maximum removal percentages for Serratia sp. 4.1.a and 5b were 99.3% and 99.57%, respectively. Their precipitates produced during Cd removal were identified as calcite by X-ray diffraction. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis showed that a portion of Cd was immobilized in this matrix. Finally, the presence of a partial gene from the czc operon, involved in Cd resistance, was observed in Serratia sp. 5b. The expression of this gene was found to be unaffected by the presence of Cd(II), and upregulated in the presence of urea. This work is one of the few to report the use of bacterial strains of the Serratia genus for Cd remediation by MICP, and apparently the first one to report differential expression of a Cd resistance gene due to the presence of urea.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Miguel Angel Beltrán, from the Asociación de Campesinos Vecinos del Parque Natural Nacional Serranía de los Yariguies (ASOCAPAYARI), El Carmen de Chucurí, Santander, Colombia, for access to the original soil samples from where the microorganisms used in this work were obtained. We also thank, at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Professor Elianna Castillo Serna, from the Chemistry Department, for the help provided during Cd quantification by AAS, and Professor Esperanza Torres Rojas and Engineer Juliana Miranda, from the Agricultural Sciences Department, for their contribution with the RNA related work. Finally, we acknowledge the help provided by Professor Ibonne Aydee Garcia Romero, from the Instituto de Biotecnología—Universidad Nacional de Colombia (IBUN), for cDNA quantification and molecular biology related work. This work was financially supported by the Dirección de Investigación y Extensión sede Bogotá (DIEB) at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (grants numbers 37691 and 48328), and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MinCiencias) of Colombia (grant number 110180863795/CT-190-2019). The Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible de Colombia (MinAmbiente) is acknowledged for the permits to collect and access national genetic resources (Contrato de Acceso a Recursos Genéticos y sus Productos Derivados No. 121 de 2016—Otrosí No. 17).
Funding
This work was supported by the Dirección de Investigación y Extensión sede Bogotá (DIEB) at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (grant numbers 37691 and 48328), and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MinCiencias) of Colombia (gran number 110180863795/CT-190–2019).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Juan C. Diez-Marulanda carried out the experiments while Pedro F. B. Brandão supervised the project. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Juan C. Diez-Marulanda, and Pedro F. B. Brandão commented and reviewed the manuscript before submission. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Diez-Marulanda, J.C., Brandão, P.F.B. Potential use of two Serratia strains for cadmium remediation based on microbiologically induced carbonate precipitation and their cadmium resistance. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 5319–5330 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31062-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31062-x