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Metallomics: lessons for metalliferous soil remediation

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Abstract

The term metallomics has been established for the investigation of transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome changes induced by metals. The mechanisms allowing the organisms to cope with metals in the environment, metal resistance factors, will in turn change biogeochemical cycles of metals in soil, coupling the metal pool with the root system of plants. This makes microorganisms key players in introducing metals into food webs, as well as for bioremediation strategies. Research on physiological and metabolic responses of microorganisms on metal stress in soil is thus essential for the selection of optimized consortia applicable in bioremediation strategies such as bioaugmentation or microbially enhanced phytoextraction. The results of metallomics studies will help to develop applications including identification of biomarkers for ecotoxicological studies, bioleaching, in situ soil regeneration, and microbially assisted phytoremediation of contaminated land. This review will therefore focus on the molecular understanding of metal resistance in bacteria and fungi, as can be derived from metallomics studies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the EU for the funding (UMBRELLA) and the DFG for the support through GRK1257 and GSC214.

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  1. Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Neugasse 25, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Götz Haferburg & Erika Kothe

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Haferburg, G., Kothe, E. Metallomics: lessons for metalliferous soil remediation. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 87, 1271–1280 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2695-z

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