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Isolation and characterization of a chromium-resistant bacterium Serratia sp. Cr-10 from a chromate-contaminated site

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Abstract

A novel bacterium, Cr-10, was isolated from a chromium-contaminated site and capable of removing toxic chromium species from solution by reducing hexavalent chromium to an insoluble precipitate. Sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene of strain Cr-10 showed that it was most closely related to Serratia rubidaea JCM 1240T (97.68%). Physiological and chemotaxonomic data also supported that strain Cr-10 was identified as Serratia sp., a genus which was never specially reported chromate-resistant before. Serratia sp., Cr-10 was tolerant to a concentration of 1,500 mg Cr(VI) L−1, which was the highest level reported until now. The optimum pH and temperature for reduction of Cr(VI) by Serratia sp. Cr-10 were found to be 7.0 and 37 °C, respectively. The Cr(VI) reduction was significantly influenced by additional carbon sources, and among them fructose and lactose offered maximum reduction, with a rate of 0.28 and 0.25 mg Cr(VI) L−1 h−1, respectively. The cell-free extracts and filtrate of the culture were able to reduce Cr(VI) while concentration of total chromium remained stable in the process, indicating that the enzyme-catalyzed mechanism was applied in Cr(VI) reduction by the isolate. Additionally, it was found that there was hardly any chromium on the cell surface of the strain, further supporting that reduction, rather than bioadsorption, plays a major role in the Cr(VI) removal.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Shu Xia for providing chromate-contaminated soil samples.

This work was supported by the Research Network for Applied Microbiology grant from Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China

    Kundi Zhang & Fuli Li

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  1. Kundi Zhang
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  2. Fuli Li
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Correspondence to Fuli Li.

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Table S1

Soil samples used in this study were collected from chromate-contaminated sites (DOC 31 kb)

Table S2

Identification of the isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and their Cr(VI)-resistant ability (DOC 35 kb)

Table S3

The EDS result of the cell surface of strain Cr-10 (DOC 32 kb)

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Zhang, K., Li, F. Isolation and characterization of a chromium-resistant bacterium Serratia sp. Cr-10 from a chromate-contaminated site. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 90, 1163–1169 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3120-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3120-y

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