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Enrichment and characterization of an effective hexavalent chromium-reducing microbial community YEM001

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Abstract

Chromium (Cr) is one of the most widely used heavy metals in industrial processes, resulting in water and soil pollution that seriously threaten environmental safety. In this paper, we have directionally enriched a Cr(VI)-reducing bacterial community YEM001 from no-Cr(VI) polluted pond sedimental sludge by selectively growing it in Cr(VI)-containing media. This community could effectively reduce Cr(VI) in laboratory rich media containing different concentrations of Cr(VI), such as 61% reduction at 435 mg/L Cr(VI), 85% reduction at 355 mg/L Cr(VI), and complete reduction at 269 mg/L Cr(VI) in 93.5 h. It was also able to completely reduce 100 mg/L and 300 mg/L Cr(VI) in landfill leachate and natural sludge in 48 h, respectively. Optimal pH for Cr(VI) reduction of the YEM001 is between 7 and 8 and the best efficiency for Cr(VI) reduction occurs at 30 °C. Metagenomic data demonstrated that the YEM001 community was composed of multiple bacteria, including well-known Cr(VI)-reducing bacteria and non-Cr(VI)-reducing bacteria. Delftia, Comamonas, Alicycliphilus, Acidovorax, Bacillus, and Clostridioides account for 83% of total community abundance. The stability of the composition of the YEM001 community and its Cr(VI)-reducing activity allows for its application in bioremediation of environmental Cr(VI) pollution.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Dr. Jinling Guo and Dr. Liwei Ren for valuable suggestions.

Funding

This work was financially supported by Major Project for Special Technology Innovation of Hubei Province (Nos. 2019ABA114 and 2017ABA157) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31370506, 21776162, and 31500422).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biological Jiaosu, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Yucai Lyu, Tao Yang, Herong Liu, Zheng Qi, Ping Li, Dachun Gong & Yaoping Zhang

  2. Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Farmland Environmental Monitoring, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Yucai Lyu & Dachun Gong

  3. Key Laboratory of Functional Yeast, China National Light Industry, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Yucai Lyu & Dachun Gong

  4. College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Ziyao Shi, Zhen Xiang & Ning Li

  5. DOE-Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Yaoping Zhang

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  1. Yucai Lyu
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  2. Tao Yang
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Contributions

YL and YZ designed the project, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript with input from all authors. TY, HL, ZQ, PL, ZS, and ZX conducted majority of the experiments. NL provided valuable suggestions. DG supervised all the work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yucai Lyu or Yaoping Zhang.

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Supplementary Information

Figure S1.

The change of pH of media during YEM001 was grown with different initial Cr(VI) concentration. The initial Cr(VI) concentration is A): 46.9 mg/L; B): 91.0 mg/L; C): 180.9 mg/L; D): 268.9 mg/L; E:) 355.3 mg/L; F): 435.2 mg/L (PNG 117 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 1864 kb)

Figure S2.

The change of OD600 of YEM001culture during the growth at different initial Cr(VI) concentration. The initial Cr(VI) concentration is A): 50 mg/L; B): 100 mg/L; C): 200 mg/L; D): 300 mg/L; E): 400 mg/L; F): 500 mg/L (PNG 125 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 2170 kb)

Figure S3.

The change of OD600 of YEM001culture at different pH during the growth in the presence of 100 mg/L Cr(VI) in the medium (PNG 57 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 168 kb)

Figure S4.

The change of OD600 (A) and Cr(VI) concentration (B) of YEM001 culture when grown at different temperatures in the presence of initial 100 mg/L Cr(VI) in the medium (PNG 383 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 23105 kb)

Figure S5.

The Cr(VI) -reducing microorganism community structure and abundance without unclassified OTU (PNG 101 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 525 kb)

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Lyu, Y., Yang, T., Liu, H. et al. Enrichment and characterization of an effective hexavalent chromium-reducing microbial community YEM001. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 19866–19877 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11863-0

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