Heavy metal toxicity to bacteria - are the existing growth media accurate enough to determine heavy metal toxicity?

A new minimal medium was formulated considering the limitations of the existing media for testing heavy metal sensitivity to bacteria. Toxicity of cadmium and copper to three bacteria was investigated in the new medium and compared with three other media commonly used to study the effect of the toxic metals. Based on speciation data arrived at using ion-selective electrodes, the available free-metal concentration in solution was highest in the MES-buffered medium. This finding was strongly supported by the estimated EC(50) values for the metals tested based on the toxicity bioassays. The free-ionic cadmium and copper concentrations in the medium provide more accurate determination of metal concentrations that affects the bacteria, than with most of other existing media. This will avoid doubts on other media and misleading conclusions relevant to the toxicity of heavy metals to bacteria and provides a better option for the study of metal-bacteria interactions.

Finger printing of mixed contaminants from former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site soils: Implications to bioremediation.

Contaminants in general do not occur as single chemicals but as mixtures at any contaminated site. Gasworks sites are the typical mixed contaminated sites. These sites are not only subjected to PAH contamination but also varying degrees of heavy metal contamination. Bioremediation in these sites is often hindered by the presence of heavy metals. The co-occurrence of PAHs with heavy metals has not been systematically investigated. Metals are reported to inhibit the general soil microbiological processes. The total concentration of soluble metal in the system includes both free metal ion and complexed forms. Within bioavailable fraction, the most toxic form is the free metal species, which was not addressed well so far in gas works site characterisation. This study underpins the science and importance of metal bioavailability and speciation based site characterisation in mixed contaminated sites. In this study a detailed elemental chemistry of the gas works site soils are discussed using different methods. The PAH contamination was contributed by both low and high molecular weight PAHs. The total PAHs concentration ranged from 335 to 8645 mg/kg. Among most toxic metals Pb was found in high concentration ranging from 88 to 671 mg/kg, Cd 8 to 112 mg/kg and Zn varied from 64 to 488 mg/kg. Thermodynamic chemical equilibrium model VMINTEQ (Ver 2.52) was used to calculate the free metal species in gas works site soils. The percentage free metal species showed a different trend compared to total metal concentrations, free Zn species ranged 18-86%, free Cd was 26-87% and Pb showed lowest free metal percentage (0-17%). The bioavailable metal species and its implications to bioremediation have also been discussed.

Sorption of quaternary ammonium compounds in soils: implications to the soil microbial activities.

Despite their widespread use in household activities and various industries, information on the toxicity of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) to microbial activities in soil is scant. This study investigated the effect of three commonly used QACs namely hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (HDTMA), octadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (ODTMA) and Arquad on dehydrogenase and potential nitrification activities in three different soils. The toxicity of QACs on the dehydrogenase activity and potential nitrification in these soils followed the order: HDTMA>ODTMA>Arquad and Arquad>HDTMA>ODTMA, respectively. HDTMA, ODTMA and Arquad exhibited toxicity to dehydrogenase activity at concentration of 50, 100 and 750 mg kg(-1) soil, respectively, whereas potential nitrification was inhibited by HDTMA and ODTMA even at 50 mg kg(-1) soil. Arquad exhibited toxicity to potential nitrification at comparatively higher concentration of 250 mg kg(-1) soil, with the severity of toxicity very intense at higher concentrations. The nature of QACs and soil properties influenced the toxicity. The toxic effect of QACs on soil microbial activities was more influenced by the relative release of sorbed QACs in soils. This study provides valuable information on the toxicological properties of some widely used QACs on important soil microbial activity parameters. To our knowledge, this is the first report.