Abstract
Bioremediation of chromates using bacteria primarily involves the removal/reduction of heavy metals in effluent using indigenous micro-organisms such as chromium reducing bacteria as biosorbents for cleaner and healthier environment. In the present study, the removal of hexavalent chromium by micro-organisms isolated from acclimatized tannery effluent was investigated. Biochemical assays and molecular sequencing revealed strain SRS05 to be Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Resistance to chromium was determined by agar and broth dilution assays followed by determination of minimal inhibitory concentration. Strain SRS05 was able to resist 400 mg/ml of chromium which reflects that the heavy metal could be utilized by the micro-organism for its growth. Results by atomic absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis and scanning electron microscopy revealed effective biosorption of chromium by S. maltophilia SRS05 with no intracellular changes morphologically indicating the stability of the organism in the presence of chromium. It is therefore recommended that this bacterium can be used widely for remediation of hexavalent chromium although the genetic basis for observations concluded in this study is to be confirmed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alhossny AA, Avudainayagam S (2009) The kinetics of Cr(III) oxidation in dominant soils of Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu, India. J Environ Res Dev 4(2):417–420
Bauer AW, Kirby WM, Sherris JC et al (1966) Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disc method. Am J Clin Pathol 45:493–496
Bernardet JF, Bowman JP (2006) The genus Flavobacterium. In: Dworkin M, Falkow S, Rosenberg E, Schleifer KH, Stackebrandt E (eds) The prokaryotes: a handbook on the biology of bacteria, 3rd edn, vol 7. Springer, New York, NY, pp 481–531
Box GE, Behnken DW (1960) Some new three level designs for the study of quantitative variables. Technometrics 2(4):455–475
Chhikara S, Hooda A, Rana L et al (2010) Chromium(VI) biosorption by immobilized Aspergillus niger in continuous flow system with special reference to FTIR analysis. J Environ Biol 31(5):561–566
Damodaran D, Suresh G, Raj Mohan B (2011) Bioremediation of soil by removing heavy metals using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Int Conf Environ Sci Technol 6(2):22–27
Dean SA, Tobin JM (1999) Uptake of chromium cations and anions by milled peat. Resour Conserv Recycl 27:151–156
Dixit R, Wasiullah Malaviya D et al (2015) Bioremediation of heavy metals from soil and aquatic environment: an overview of principles and criteria of fundamental processes. Sustainability 7:2189–2212
Feng QL, Wu J, Chen GQ et al (2000) A mechanistic study of the antibacterial effect of silver ions on E. coli and Staphylococous aureus. J Biomed Mater Res 52(4):662–668
Han X, Wong YS, Wong MH et al (2007) Biosorption and bioreduction of Cr(VI) by a microalgal isolate, Chlorella miniata. J Hazard Mater 146(1–2):65–72
Holman HYN (2002) Real time characterization of biogeochemical reduction of Cr(VI) on basalt surfaces by SR-FTIR imaging. Geomicrobiol J 16:307–324
Kader PS, Othman O, Ismail BS et al (2007) Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions by growing and nongrowing populations of environmental bacterial consortia. Glob J Environ Res 1(1):12–17
Katiyar SK, Katiyar R (1997) Microbes in control of heavy metal pollution. Adv Microb Biotechnol 19:330–344
Kim JY, Sungeun K, Kim J et al (2005) The biocidal activity of nano-sized silver particles comparing with silver ion. Korean Soc Environ Eng 27:771–776
Kumar BL, Gopal DS (2015) Effective role of indigenous microorganisms for sustainable environment. 3 Biotech 5(6):867–876
Malik A (2004) Metal bioremediation through growing cells. Environ Int 30:261–278
Mishra R, Sinha V, Kannan A, Upreti RK (2012) Reduction of chromium-VI by chromium resistant lactobacilli: a prospective bacterium for bioremediation. Toxicol Int 19(1):25
Mohankumar K, Hariharan V, Rao NP (2016) Heavy metal contamination in groundwater around industrial estate vs residential areas in Coimbatore, India. J Clin Diag Res 10(4):BC05
Myers RH, Montgomery DC (2002) Response surface methodology: process and product in optimization using designed experiments. Wiley, New York
Plackett RL, Burman JP (1946) The design of optimum multifactorial experiments. Biometrica 33(4):305–325
Pujari V, Chandra TS (2000) Statistical optimization of medium components for improved synthesis of riboflavin by Eremothecium ashbyii. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 23(3):303–307
Reddy LVA, Young-Jung W, Jong-Sun Y et al (2009) Optimization of alkaline protease production by batch culture of Bacillus sp. RKY3 through Plackett Burman and response surface methodological approaches. Bioresour Technol 99(7):2242–2249
Salas BV, Duran EIG, Wiener MS (2000) Impact of pesticides use on human health in Mexico: a review. Rev Environ Health 15(4):399–412
Saranraj P, Stella D, Reetha D et al (2010) Bioadsorption of chromium resistant Enterococcus casseliflavus isolated from tannrey effluents. J Ecobiotechnol 2(7):17–22
Satarupa D, Paul AK (2013) Hexavalent chromium reduction by aerobic heterotrophic bacteria indigenous to chromite mine overburden. Braz J Microbiol 44(1):307–315
Sethuraman P, Balasubramanian N (2010) Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution using Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae. Int J Eng Sci Technol 2(6):1811–1825
Shahida H, Thakur IS (2007) Evaluation of biosorption potency of Acinetobacter sp. for removal of hexavalent chromium from tannery effluent. J Earth Environ Sci 18(5):637–646
Sultan S, Hasnain S (2005) Isolation of hexavalent chromium-reducing Cr-tolerant facultative anaerobes from tannery effluent. J Gen Appl Microbiol 47:307–312
Sultan S, Hasnain S (2007) Reduction of toxic hexavalent chromium by Ochrobactrum intermedium strain SDCr-5 stimulated by heavy metals. Bioresour Technol 98(2):340–344
Thakur IS, Srivastava S (2011) Bioremediation and bioconversion of chromium and pentachlorophenol in tannery effluent by microorganisms. Int J Tech 3:224–233
Xie X, Jin F, Wang H et al (2010) Heavy metal resistance by two bacteria strains isolated from a copper mine tailing in China. Afr J Biotechnol 9(26):4056–4066
Xiong YH, Liu YH, Song HY et al (2004) Enhanced production of extracellular ribonucleic from Aspergillus niger by optimization of culture conditions using response surface methodology. Biochem Eng J 21:27–32
Yee N, Benning LG, Phoenix VR et al (2004) Characterization of metal-cyanobacteria sorption reactions: a combined macroscopic and infrared spectroscopic investigation. Environ Sci Technol 38(3):775–782
Acknowledgements
This study has not been financed by any government or private funding agencies. We gratefully acknowledge Progen Biotech Pvt. Ltd, Salem, for their assistance in sequencing of the organism used in the study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Tanmoy Karak.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Raman, N.M., Asokan, S., Shobana Sundari, N. et al. Bioremediation of chromium(VI) by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated from tannery effluent. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 15, 207–216 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1378-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1378-z