Mercury Bioremediation
by Pseudomonas aeruginosa: in vitro insights
Ghangale S.S. and Saler R.S.
Res. J. Biotech.; Vol. 20(10); 21-28;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/2010rjbt021028; (2025)
Abstract
Since the last few decades, mercury pollution has posed serious health and environmental
threats due to its long-term non-biodegradable nature. Bioremediation has the potential
to address this concern. This study gives systematic in vitro insights into mercury
bioremediation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The isolation of mercury-resistant bacterial
isolates followed by their optimization to their maximum mercury removal ability,
pH and temperature was conducted. Identification and characterization of bacterial
isolate having maximum remediation capacity for mercury were conducted with the
VITEK 2 compact system. The mercuric reductase enzyme assay was conducted to see
the metabolic process of microbial bioremediation. Based on the standard method
for identification and characterization, mercury-resistant bacterial isolate Hg-I3
was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
It was seen that among all the isolated bacteria, isolate Hg-I3 shows the highest
potential i.e. 75.72% for mercury bioremediation. Enzyme Mercuric reductase activity
was found to be 0.0827 units/ml at 30mins; the bioremediation process was found
to increase with the increase in enzyme production. Optimization studies showed
that pH (6.0) and temperature conditions (35°C) enhanced bioremediation. These findings
underscore significance of microbial bioremediation in addressing mercury contamination
and highlight the potential for further research and application in the field of
sustainable environmental remediation.
