Evaluation of Cr(VI) reduction mechanism and removal by Cellulosimicrobium funkei strain AR8, a novel haloalkaliphilic bacterium.

The present study, a novel haloalkaliphilic Cr(VI) tolerant bacterial strain, Cellulosimicrobium funkei AR8, was isolated and characterized for its high Cr(VI) reduction. In batch experiments, Cr(VI) reduction was evaluated under different parametric conditions which include different pH (5-9), temperature (25-45°C), NaCl (0-3%) and Cr(VI) concentrations (100-250μg/ml). Variations in the cell surface functional groups and morphology of the bacterial cells after Cr(VI) reduction were characterized by FT-IR and SEM-EDX. FT-IR analysis revealed that cell surface functional groups such as alkanes, amide and amines are involved in chromium biosorption and SEM-EDX results showed that biosorption and immobilization of chromium species on the cell surface. Bioconversion of Cr(VI) into Cr(III) by strain AR8 was confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy analysis. Intracellular localization of reduced product (Cr(III)) was visualized by TEM analysis. Various instrumentation analysis verified that Cr(VI) removal mechanism of C. funkei AR8 strain was achieved by both extra and intracellular reducing machinery. Toxicity study revealed that the bacterially reduced product exerted less toxic effects on phenotypic, survival (91.31%), hatching (84.04%) and heart function (115±1.03 beats/min) of zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Higher Cr(VI) reducing ability of the strain under haloalkaliphilic condition suggests the C. funkei AR8 as a novel and efficient strain for remediating Cr(VI) contaminated industrial effluents with high salinity and alkalinity.