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Intracellular uptake and reduction of hexavalent chromium by the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PUPCCC 62

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Abstract

A hexavalent chromium-tolerant cyanobacterial strain isolated from the Satluj River, Ludhiana, India was identified as Synechocystis sp. strain PUPCCC 62 based on the 16S rRNA gene and phycocyanin cpcBA-intergenic spacer sequence analysis. Cr IC50 for the organism was determined to be 100 μmol L−1. The organism removed nearly four times more Cr(VI) from imidazole-HCl buffer (200 mmol L−1, pH 6.0) (250 nmol Cr(VI) mg−1 protein) compared with basal medium (59 nmol Cr(VI) mg−1 protein) in 8 h. Temperature of 28 °C, pH of 6.0, and biomass load of 200 μg protein mL−1 were found to be the optimum parameters for Cr(VI) bioremoval from the buffer solution. Cr(VI) bioremoval by the cyanobacterium was light/photosynthesis dependent. Along with Cr(VI) bioremoval, its reduction to Cr(III) was also demonstrated. In a 6-h period, the amount of Cr(VI) in the solution decreased to 7.3 μmol and the amount of Cr(III) increased to 2.7 μmol from initial amount of 10 μmol Cr(VI). Both Cr(VI) and Cr(III) were observed in the solution only and not on the surface or inside the cells. It has been demonstrated that the organism reduced Cr(VI) to Cr(III) intracellularly and excreted it outside the cells. This is the first report on intracellular reduction of Cr(VI) by a cyanobacterium.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Head of the Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala and Coordinator, SAP-II of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for laboratory facilities. Infrastructural facility provided by the Director of CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, India for the molecular biology work is also acknowledged. Shahnaz thanks the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for providing financial assistance in the form of Maulana Azad National Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, Punjab, India

    J. I. S. Khattar, Shahnaz Parveen, Y. Singh & D. P. Singh

  2. Plant Pathology and Microbiology Laboratory, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, P.O. Box 6, Palampur, 176061, Himachal Pradesh, India

    A. Gulati

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  1. J. I. S. Khattar
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Khattar, J.I.S., Parveen, S., Singh, Y. et al. Intracellular uptake and reduction of hexavalent chromium by the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PUPCCC 62. J Appl Phycol 27, 827–837 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-014-0374-7

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