Characterisation of novel microbial strains Proteus mirabilis and Bordetella avium for heavy metal bioremediation and dye degradation.

The entitled study focuses on exploring the microbial diversity and its applicability in the remediation of metal contaminated soil using microbes, which is a reliable and cost effective technique. Tungsten enriched soil of Kuhi-Agargaon-Khobna region (Nagpur, India) were analysed by XRF method to detect heavy metals. The traditional microbiological techniques were used to isolate tungsten tolerant microbes. Applicability of these microbes in bioremediation and Azo dye degradation was mainly studied. The two novel bacterial strains, Proteus mirabilis (RS2K) and Bordetella avium (RS3K), were isolated and identified to show the tolerance to tungsten, using 16S rDNA and phylogenetic analysis. These novel strains have also shown the tolerance to other metallic salts viz., (sodium) tungsten, tungstic acid, ammonium metaparatungstate, mercuric chloride, cobalt chloride and azo dye. These microbes were found to accumulate tungsten intracellularly as confirmed through ICP-MS and SEM-EDS analyses. Microbes exhibited well-equipped cellular mechanisms for metal tolerance to survive in heavy metal-laden ecology. Current study contains substantial potential in bioleaching of heavy metals and green mining along with Nano bioremediation for heavy metal pollution.