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Multiple metal-resistant bacteria and fungi from acidic copper mine tailings of Xinjiang, China

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Abstract

The microbiology of mining environments has become a research topic of great importance. The present study reports on six bacterial and three fungal isolates which were characterized on a molecular basis. The phylogenetic analysis distributed the bacterial isolates into six groups in which groups A, B and C belonged to Bacillus beringensis, Bacillus sp. and Bacillus megaterium, respectively, while groups D, E and F constituted strains of Pseudomonas putida, Acidothiobacillus sp. and Kocuria sp., respectively. Fungi isolated belonged to the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium and Hypocrea. These isolates showed metal resistances to six heavy metals: Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, Sb and Ni. For the bacteria, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of these metals were in the range of 1–11 mM, whereas for fungi, the MIC was in the range of 5–20 mM. The multiple heavy metal-resistant bacterial species may be further screened for application to bioremediation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1120302, 41072195 and 41350110533). Partial funding for this research was also received from the Visiting Professor Program at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Bioremediation, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, People’s Republic of China

    Deepika Kumari, Xiangliang Pan, Varenyam Achal & Daoyong Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550002, China

    Daoyong Zhang & M. Golam Mortuza

  3. Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Fahad A. Al-Misned

  4. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life and Earth Science, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, 6205, Bangladesh

    M. Golam Mortuza

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  1. Deepika Kumari
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  2. Xiangliang Pan
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  3. Varenyam Achal
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  4. Daoyong Zhang
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  5. Fahad A. Al-Misned
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  6. M. Golam Mortuza
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Correspondence to Xiangliang Pan or Daoyong Zhang.

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Kumari, D., Pan, X., Achal, V. et al. Multiple metal-resistant bacteria and fungi from acidic copper mine tailings of Xinjiang, China. Environ Earth Sci 74, 3113–3121 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4349-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4349-z

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