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Isolation of urease-producing bacteria and their effects on reducing Cd and Pb accumulation in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

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Abstract

Excess Cd and Pb in agricultural soils enter the food chain and adversely affect all organisms. Therefore, it is important to find an eco-friendly way to reduce heavy metal accumulation in vegetables. We used urea agar plates to isolate urease-producing bacteria from the rhizosphere soil of lettuce in Cd- and Pb-contaminated farmland and investigated their ability to produce urease and immobilize heavy metals. The effects of these strains on the biomass, quality, and Cd and Pb accumulation of lettuce were also studied. The results showed that two urease-producing bacteria, Enterobacter bugandensis TJ6 and Bacillus megaterium HD8, were screened from the rhizosphere soil of lettuce. They had a high ability to produce urease (44.5 mS cm−1 min−1 OD600−1 and 54.2 mS cm−1 min−1 OD600−1, respectively) and IAA (303 mg L−1 and 387 mg L−1, respectively). Compared with the control, inoculation with strains TJ6 and HD8 reduced the Cd (75.3–85.8%) and Pb (74.8–87.2%) concentrations and increased the pH (from 6.92 to 8.13–8.53) in solution. A hydroponic experiment showed that the two strains increased the biomass (31.3–55.2%), improved the quality (28.6–52.6% for the soluble protein content and 34.8–88.4% for the vitamin C (Vc) content), and reduced the Cd (25.6–68.9%) and Pb (48.7–78.8%) contents of lettuce shoots (edible tissue). In addition, strain HD8 had a greater ability than strain TJ6 to reduce lettuce Cd and Pb uptake and water-soluble Cd and Pb levels in solution. These data show that the urease-producing bacteria protect lettuce against Cd and Pb toxicity by extracellular adsorption, Cd and Pb immobilization, and increased pH. The effects of heavy metal immobilization by the two strains can guarantee vegetable safety in situ for the bioremediation of heavy metal–polluted farmland.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41907143), the Technical Innovation Special Fund of Hubei Province (2018ABA097), the Education Department of Hubei Province (D20181002), and the Key Scientific Research Projects of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province (20A180023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Tiejun Wang, Shilin Wang, Xingchun Tang, Sheng Yang & Yadong Li

  2. Institute of Plant Protection and Soil Fertilizer, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Xianpeng Fan

  3. Collaborative Innovation of Water Security for the Water Source Region of Mid-line of the South-to-North Diversion Project of Henan Province, College of Agricultural Engineering, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, 473061, People’s Republic of China

    Lunguang Yao & Hui Han

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  1. Tiejun Wang
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  2. Shilin Wang
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  3. Xingchun Tang
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  4. Xianpeng Fan
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Correspondence to Yadong Li or Hui Han.

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Wang, T., Wang, S., Tang, X. et al. Isolation of urease-producing bacteria and their effects on reducing Cd and Pb accumulation in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 8707–8718 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06957-3

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