Abstract

Lead is found to be one of the most toxic heavy metal according to American public health association (APHA). Vellore district is one of the most polluted sites in the world. It is more common for lead poisoning to build up slowly over time. Over time, even low levels of lead exposure can harm a child's mental development. Therefore new resources for the removal of lead are the need of the hour. Soil and effluent samples were obtained from common effluent treatment plant; Ranipet, Vellore district. The concentration of heavy metal was also assessed in the collected samples and then isolated lead tolerant bacteria over lead containing mineral salt medium. The isolated desired bacteria was also tested for their ability to remediate other heavy metals like chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) which are present in the tannery effluent. The one with good bioremediation activity was further characterized by sequencing 16S rRNA gene and it was found to be a novel species of Klebsiellagenus.

Key words: Lead tolerant bacteria, Klebsiella, heavy metal remediation.

Abbreviation

 APHA, American Public Health Association; CETP, common effluent treatment plant; ICP-OES, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry;MIC, minimum inhibitory concentration; MSM, mineral salt medium; MTCC, microbial type culture collection; TSI, triple sugar iron agar.