Novel Metal Accumulator and Protease Secretor Microbes from East Calcutta Wetland

Abstract

Nine bacterial isolates were screened from different sites of East Calcutta Wetland, an ecosystem located at the eastern fringes of Calcutta. Other than being a biodiversity rich area, the important feature of this system is that it is a natural sewage treatment plant for the city of Calcutta. In addition to daily sewage including solid and soluble wastes, a considerable load of toxic metals are released into the water bodies from industries, tanneries, agriculture, household as well as health sectors. Screening out microbes from such an environment was done keeping in mind their multi functional application. These bacterial isolates were found to produce extracellular protease which is known to have vast applications in the commercial market of enzymes. The key area of this study is exploring the role of these isolates in heavy metal remediation. These isolates were found to tolerate heavy metals like Ag, Al, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni and Pb. Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis and Transmission Electron Microscopy of the metal treated cells confirm the intracellular accumulation. Moreover, a preliminary demonstration of the effect of metal induced stress on cell surface features was determined by Scanning Electron Microscopy.