Bioremediation potential of hexavalent chromium-resistant Arthrobacter globiformis 151B: study of the uptake of cesium and other alkali ions

Abstract

Cesium (Cs⁺) enters environments largely because of global release into the environment from weapons testing and accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl nuclear waste. Even at low concentrations, Cs⁺ is highly toxic to ecological receptors because of its physicochemical similarity to macronutrient potassium (K⁺). We investigated the uptake and accumulation of Cs⁺ by Arthrobacter globiformis strain 151B in reference to three similar alkali metal cations rubidium (Rb⁺), sodium (Na⁺), and potassium (K⁺). The impact of hexavalent chromium (Cr⁺⁶) as a co-contaminant was also evaluated. A. globiformis 151B accumulated Cs⁺ and Cr⁶⁺ in a time-dependent fashion. In contrast, the uptake and accumulation of Rb⁺ did not exhibit any trends. An exposure to Cs⁺, Rb⁺, and Cr⁺⁶ triggered a drastic increase in K⁺ and Na⁺ uptake by the bacterial cells. That was followed by the efflux of K⁺ and Na⁺, suggesting a Cs⁺ “substitution.” Two-dimensional gel-electrophoresis of bacterial cell proteomes with the following mass-spectrometry of differentially expressed bands revealed that incubation of bacterial cells with Cs⁺ induced changes in the expression of proteins involved in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and reactive oxygen species removal. The ability of A. globiformis 151B to mediate the uptake and accumulation of cesium and hexavalent chromium suggests that it possesses wide-range bioremediation potential.