Isolation and Characterization of Arsenic Tolerant Bacteria Collected from Arsenic Contaminated Site of West Bengal, India

N. K. Singh; D. K. Verma; A. K. Upadhyay; U. N. Rai

doi:10.18811/ijpen.v5i01.10

N. K. Singh Environmental Science Discipline, Department of Chemistry, Manipal University, Jaipur, India
D. K. Verma Exotic and Qurantine Management Division, National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
A. K. Upadhyay Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
U. N. Rai Plant Ecology and Climate Change Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18811/ijpen.v5i01.10

Keywords: Arsenic tolerance, Bacterial characterization, Bioremediation, Detoxification.

Abstract

In the present study, arsenic tolerant bacteria were isolated and characterized from rhizospheric soil of rice plant growing in the arsenic contaminated area of West Bengal, India. Among 31 bacterial isolates, nine isolates were showed tolerance at higher concentration of arsenate (As V; 20000 mg mL-1). Selected arsenic tolerance bacterial isolates were characterized based on biochemical analysis, partial 16S rDNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Results revealed that selected arsenic tolerant bacterial strains were lavished at 370C and neutral pH 7 and showed a positive response for catalase and oxidase enzymes. Using partial 16S rDNA based identification and phylogenetic analysis, selected bacterial isolates were identified as Jeotgalicoccus nanhaiensis, Alcaligenes faecalis, Paenalcaligenes sp., Providencia sp., Kocuria sp. and Pseudomonas stutzeri. Further, the isolated As tolerant bacterial strains may be tested for their possible utilization in arsenic mobilization in the rhizosphere for enhancing phytoremediation potential to remediate arsenic from contaminated sites. However, efficient arsenic accumulator strain like Pseudomonas stutzeri can be employed as bioresource to develop low-cost bioremediation technology for arsenic removal.