Soil Quality Protection at Heavy Metal-Contaminated Manufactured Gas Plant Sites: Role of Biological Remediation

Author(s):  
Martina Grifoni ◽  
Gianniantonio Petruzzelli ◽  
Meri Barbafieri ◽  
Irene Rosellini ◽  
Francesca Pedron
2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Kamnev ◽  
Daniël van der Lelie

In this review, chemical and biological parameters are discussed thatstrongly influence the speciation of heavy metals, their availability tobiological systems and, consequently, the possibilities to usebioremediation as a cleanup tool for heavy metal polluted sites. In orderto assess heavy metal availability, a need exists for rapid, cost-effectivesystems that reliably predict this parameter and, based on this, thefeasibility of using biological remediation techniques for site managementand restoration. Special attention is paid to phytoremediation as anemerging technology for stabilization and remediation of heavy metalpollution. In order to improve phytoremediation of heavy metal pollutedsites, several important points relevant to the process have to beelucidated. These include the speciation and bioavailability of the heavymetals in the soil determined by many chemical and biological parameters, the role of plant-associated soil microorganisms and fungi inphytoremediation, and the plants. Several options are described how plant-associated soil microorganisms canbe used to improve heavy metal phytoremediation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihiri Seneviratne ◽  
Gamini Seneviratne ◽  
H. M. S. P. Madawala ◽  
M. C. M. Iqbal ◽  
Nishanta Rajakaruna ◽  
...  

This study was conducted to understand the role of bacterial–fungal interactions on heavy metal uptake by Zea mays plants. A pot experiment was conducted for 90 days with Z. mays in serpentine soil inoculated with a Gram-negative bacterium, fungus (Aspergilllus sp.) and both microbes to determine the effects of inoculation on nickel, manganese, chromium and cobalt concentrations in plant tissue and soil. Soil nutrients and soil enzyme activities were measured to determine the effect of inoculations on soil quality. Inoculation of microorganisms increased shoot and root biomass, and the maximum biomass was in the bacterial–fungal inoculation. This could be due to the solubilisation of phosphate and production of indole acetic acid. Although the combination treatment contributed to an increase in heavy metal uptake in Z. mays plants, the lowest translocation was observed in the combination treatment. Moreover, the soil available nitrogen, available phosphorous and total organic carbon content were increased with the microbial inoculation. Similarly, the soil dehydrogenase activity was higher as a result of microbial inoculation, whereas the highest dehydrogenase activity was reported in the combination inoculation. This study confirms the synergistic effect of bacterial–fungal inoculation as a soil-quality enhancer and as a plant-growth promoter in the presence of heavy metals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Woo Seung Ham ◽  
Abdul-Muizz Pradipto ◽  
Kay Yakushiji ◽  
Kwangsu Kim ◽  
Sonny H. Rhim ◽  
...  

AbstractDzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) is considered as one of the most important energies for specific chiral textures such as magnetic skyrmions. The keys of generating DMI are the absence of structural inversion symmetry and exchange energy with spin–orbit coupling. Therefore, a vast majority of research activities about DMI are mainly limited to heavy metal/ferromagnet bilayer systems, only focusing on their interfaces. Here, we report an asymmetric band formation in a superlattices (SL) which arises from inversion symmetry breaking in stacking order of atomic layers, implying the role of bulk-like contribution. Such bulk DMI is more than 300% larger than simple sum of interfacial contribution. Moreover, the asymmetric band is largely affected by strong spin–orbit coupling, showing crucial role of a heavy metal even in the non-interfacial origin of DMI. Our work provides more degrees of freedom to design chiral magnets for spintronics applications.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Andrea Neri ◽  
Silvia Traversari ◽  
Andrea Andreucci ◽  
Alessandra Francini ◽  
Luca Sebastiani

Populus alba ‘Villafranca’ clone is well-known for its tolerance to cadmium (Cd). To determine the mechanisms of Cd tolerance of this species, wild-type (wt) plants were compared with transgenic plants over-expressing an aquaporin (aqua1, GenBank GQ918138). Plants were maintained in hydroponic conditions with Hoagland’s solution and treated with 10 µM of Cd, renewed every 5 d. The transcription levels of heavy metal transporter genes (PaHMA2, PaNRAMP1.3, PaNRAMP2, PaNRAMP3.1, PaNRAMP3.2, PaABCC9, and PaABCC13) were analyzed at 1, 7, and 60 d of treatment. Cd application did not induce visible toxicity symptoms in wt and aqua1 plants even after 2 months of treatment confirming the high tolerance of this poplar species to Cd. Most of the analyzed genes showed in wt plants a quick response in transcription at 1 d of treatment and an adaptation at 60 d. On the contrary, a lower transcriptional response was observed in aqua1 plants in concomitance with a higher Cd concentration in medial leaves. Moreover, PaHMA2 showed at 1 d an opposite trend within organs since it was up-regulated in root and stem of wt plants and in leaves of aqua1 plants. In summary, aqua1 overexpression in poplar improved Cd translocation suggesting a lower Cd sensitivity of aqua1 plants. This different response might be due to a different transcription of PaNRAMP3 genes that were more transcribed in wt line because of the importance of this gene in Cd compartmentalization.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Usman Khan ◽  
Nachiketa Rai ◽  
Mukesh Kumar Sharma

<p>As contamination in groundwater has been reported from various regions of the Indian subcontinent but no data related to heavy metal contamination of groundwater has been reported for the Bahraich area in the Indo-Gangetic plains. We report the first dataset on arsenic contamination and groundwater hydrogeochemistry, in Bahraich. This includes concentrations of heavy metal such as As, Mn, and Fe, along with major cations (Na<sup>+</sup>, K<sup>+</sup>, Ca<sup>2+</sup>and Mg<sup>2+</sup>) and anions (F<sup>-</sup>, Cl<sup>-</sup>, NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>, SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2-</sup> and PO<sub>4</sub><sup>3-</sup>), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), along with various physico-chemical parameters such as EC, pH, and Eh from samples collected during two extensive field campaigns conducted during pre-monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons respectively. The combined use of geochemical modeling and multivariate statistical approaches such as principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis (CA) suggest several processes affecting the geochemistry of groundwater including the lithological characteristics of aquifers and anthropogenic activities.</p><p>The groundwater of the study area predominantly belongs to the Ca-Mg-HCO<sub>3</sub> type hydrochemical facies. HCO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>/Na<sup>+</sup> and Ca<sup>2+</sup>/Na<sup>+</sup> signatures of groundwater indicate the influence of silicate weathering and carbonate dissolution processes with the insignificant role of evaporate dissolution mechanism. As concentration was found to range from 0.6 μg/L to ~100 μg/L with almost 40% of the collected samples exceeding the WHO defined limit of 10 μg/L for drinking water. 70 % of the groundwater samples were found to have very high Fe concentrations exceeding the WHO guideline of 0.3 mg/l in drinking water. Mn concentrations in the groundwater samples were relatively low with only ~10 % of the samples exceeding the WHO defined limit for Mn (400 μg/L). The majority of the groundwater samples were found to be anoxic in nature showing low NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> & SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2-</sup> concentrations, high Fe & Mn and DOC concentrations, and negative Eh values.</p><p>Results from this study show that the reductive dissolution mechanism of iron oxyhydroxide is the dominant mechanism responsible for arsenic release in groundwater of the region, ruling out any role of sulfide oxidation and alkali desorption.</p><p> </p><p> </p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
D. Marcinčáková ◽  
M. Falis ◽  
P. Schusterová ◽  
P. Váczi ◽  
S. Marcinčák ◽  
...  

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential protective role of Agrimonia eupatoria L. in heavy metal induced nephrotoxicity. Rabbit kidney epithelial cells (RK13) were used as the model cell line. They were exposed to three different heavy metal compounds: cadmium chloride dihydrate CdCl2.2H2O (15 and 20 mg.l−1), potassium dichromate K2Cr2O7 (1, 10 mg.l−1), and zinc sulfate heptahydrate ZnSO4.7H2O (50, 150 mg.l−1) simultaneously with agrimony (ethanolic extract, 100 mg.l−1). The cell response was recorded using the xCELLigence system or real-time cell analysis (RTCA) as a cell index (CI) and expressed as cell adherence (%) compared to control cells without treatment. The potential nephroprotective effects were recorded in cells treated with chromium (1 a 10 mg.l−1) and agrimony, where the cell adherence increased from 95.11 ± 11.25 % and 7.24 ± 0.33 % to 103.26 ± 1.23 % and 68.54 ± 4.89 % (P < 0.05) respectfully and also with a combination of agrimony and zinc (150 mg.l−1), where the adherence increased from 57.45 ± 1.98 % to 95.4 ± 6.95 %. During the cell exposure to cadmium in combination with agrimony, the protective effect was not recorded; the adherence of cells was even decreased (P < 0.05).


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