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From industrial sites to environmental applications with Cupriavidus metallidurans

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Abstract

Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 and related strains are adapted to metal contaminated environments. A strong resistance to environmental stressors and adaptation make it ideal strains for survival in decreasing biodiversity conditions and for bioaugmentation purposes in environmental applications. The soil bacterium C. metallidurans is able to grow chemolithoautotrophically on hydrogen and carbon dioxide allowing a strong resilience under conditions lacking organic matter. The biofilm growth on soil particles allows coping with starvation or bad conditions of pH, temperature and pollutants. Its genomic capacity of two megaplasmids encoding several heavy metal resistance operons allowed growth in heavy metal contaminated habitats. In addition its specific siderophores seem to play a role in heavy metal sequestration besides their role in the management of bioavailable iron. Efflux ATPases and RND systems pump the metal cations to the membrane surface where polysaccharides serve as heavy metal binding and nucleation sites for crystallisation of metal carbonates. These polysaccharides contribute also to flotation under specific conditions in a soil-heavy metals–bacteria suspension mixture. An inoculated moving bed sand filter was constructed to treat heavy metal contaminated water and to remove the metals in the form of biomass mixed with metal carbonates. A membrane based contactor allowed to use the bacteria as well in a versatile wastewater treatment system and to grow homogeneously formed heavy metal carbonates. Its behaviour toward heavy metal binding and flotation was combined in a biometal sludge reactor to extract and separate heavy metals from metal contaminated soils. Finally its metal-induced heavy metal resistance allowed constructing whole cell heavy metal biosensors which, after contact with contaminated soil, waste, solids, minerals and ashes, were induced in function of the bioavailable concentration (Cd, Zn, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni, Tl, Pb and Hg) in the solids and allowed to investigate the speciation of immobilization of those metals.

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Abbreviations

CDM:

Cellular dry matter

RND:

Metal resistance, nodulation and cell division

MERESAFIN:

Metal removal by sand filter inoculation

BICMER:

Bacteria immobilized composite membrane reactor

TCE:

3-Chlorobenzoate, trichloroethylene

PAH:

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons

Cop D:

Copper resistance protein D

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BU Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Ludo Diels & Sandra Van Roy

  2. Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973-5000, USA

    Safyih Taghavi

  3. Unit for Microbiology, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK·CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Rob Van Houdt

Authors
  1. Ludo Diels
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  2. Sandra Van Roy
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  3. Safyih Taghavi
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  4. Rob Van Houdt
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Correspondence to Ludo Diels.

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Diels, L., Van Roy, S., Taghavi, S. et al. From industrial sites to environmental applications with Cupriavidus metallidurans . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 96, 247–258 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-009-9361-4

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