Evaluation of the Potential Role of Bacillus altitudinis MT422188 in Nickel Bioremediation from Contaminated Industrial Effluents

Abstract

The incessant pervasiveness of heavy metals in the environment is one of the precursory factors of pollution. This research study was endeavored upon to investigate the bioremediation potential of a nickel (Ni)-resistant bacterial isolate, identified as Bacillus altitudinis MT422188, whose optimum growth parameters were demonstrated at pH 7, temperature 32 °C, and 1 mM phosphate. Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and EC50 for Ni were observed to be 20 and 11.5 mM, respectively, whereas the cross heavy-metal resistance was discerned as Cu2+ (25 mM) > Zn2+ (15 mM) > Cr6+ (10 mM) > Pb2+ (5 mM) > Co2+ (8 mM) > Cd2+ (3 mM) > Hg2+ (0 mM). Ni biosorption studies by live and heat-killed bacterial cells were suggestive of Ni uptake being facilitated by an ATP-independent efflux system. A pilot-scale study displayed the effective removal of Ni (70 mg/L and 85 mg/L) at 4- and 8-day intervals, respectively. Moreover, chemotaxis and motility assays indicated the role of Ni as a chemoattractant for bacterial cells. The presence of Ni reduced the GR (0.001 ± 0.003 Ug−1FW), POX (0.001 ± 0.001 Ug−1FW), and SOD (0.091 ± 0.003 Ug−1FW) activity, whereas Sodium dodecyl sulphate—Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed the presence of metallothionein (60 kDa). Kinetic and isotherm studies suggested a pseudo second-order and Freundlich model to be better fitted for our study. The thermodynamic parameters (∆H° = 3.0436 kJ/mol, ∆S° = 0.0224 kJ/mol/K) suggested the process to be endothermic, spontaneous, and favorable in nature. FTIR analysis elucidated the interaction of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups with Ni. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) demonstrated changes in the morphological and elemental composition of the bacterial cells, which affirmed their interaction with Ni during biosorption. In summary, our study concludes the efficient role of Bacillus altitudinis MT422188 in removing Ni from polluted industrial effluents.

Bioremediation of Heavy Metals by the Genus Bacillus

“…To date, several papers on biosorption with Bacillus spp. have been published [ 21 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. Some strains of the Bacillus spp.…”

“…One way of bioremediation may be the use of bacteria of the genus Bacillus [ 8 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. They are Gram-positive, spore-forming, rod-shaped, and aerobic or facultative anaerobes.…”

Genome mining, phylogenetic, and functional analysis of arsenic (As) resistance operons in Bacillus strains, isolated from As-rich hot spring microbial mats

“…B. altitudinis has been isolated from various environments, including thermal pools (Abdollahi et al, 2021). Likewise, this species has been associated with good capacities to tolerate heavy metals, as well as excellent capacities to bioremediate environments contaminated with zinc, nickel, and copper (Khan et al, 2021; Babar et al, 2021; Yue et al, 2021). On the other hand, B. paralicheniformis KNPhave shown a good capacity to reduce chromate through three possible chromate efflux transporters.…”

Advances in Chemotactic and Non-chemotactic Bioremediation of Water: A Comprehensive Review

“…Anaerobic thermophilic bacterium Anoxybacillus was reported to be chemotactic towards Fe (III) and showed over 50% reduction of Fe (III) in studies with co-contamination with hydrocarbons [96]. In another study, Bacillus altitudinis MT422188 was found to be chemotactic towards zinc [97] and nickel [98] which aided in efficient biosorption of these heavy metals.…”