Metal(loid)-Contaminated Soils as a Source of Culturable Heterotrophic Aerobic Bacteria for Remediation Applications. Issue 9 (21st October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pires, Carlos; Franco, Albina R.; Pereira, Sofia I. A.; Henriques, Isabel; Correia, António; Magan, Naresh; Castro, Paula M. L.
• Is Part Of: Geomicrobiology journal. Volume 34:Issue 9(2017)
• Page Start: 760
• Page End: 768
• Publication Date: 2017-10-21
• Subjects: Bacterial diversity -- metal(loid)s -- metal(loid) tolerance -- soil contamination; Geomicrobiology -- Periodicals; Biogeochemistry -- Periodicals; 579
• DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2016.1261968
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-0451

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Heavy metal–contaminated soils are a serious environmental problem. Herein, the culturable heterotrophic bacterial community present on two metal(loid)-contaminated sites in the Northern Portugal was investigated. The bacterial counts ranged from 5.96 to 7.69 and 7.04 to 7.51 (log CFU g −1 soil) in Sites 1 and 3, respectively. The bacterial population was predominantly composed of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria on both sites. The most represented genera in Site 1 were Bacillus (41%) and Pseudomonas (27%), whereas Arthrobacter (21%) and Pseudomonas (13%) were the most represented genera in Site 3. Several bacterial isolates showed tolerance to high concentrations of metal(loid)s, suggesting that both contaminated sites are a valuable source of metal(loid)-tolerant bacteria, which may be further used in bioremediation and/or phytoremediation processes.