title: Mercury bioaccumulation and simultaneous nanoparticle synthesis by Enterobacter sp. cells.
abstract: A mercury resistant strain of Enterobacter sp. is reported. The strain exhibited a novel property of mercury bioaccumulation with simultaneous synthesis of mercury nanoparticles. The culture conditions viz. pH 8.0 and lower concentration of mercury promotes synthesis of uniform sized 2-5 nm, spherical and monodispersed intracellular mercury nanoparticles. The remediated mercury trapped in the form of nanoparticles is unable to vaporize back into the environment thus, overcoming the major drawback of mercury remediation process. The mercury nanoparticles were recoverable. The nanoparticles have been characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, powder X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The strain can be exploited for metal bioaccumulation from environmental effluent and developing a green process for nanoparticles biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Enzyme and Microbial Biochemistry Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110 016, India.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Sunil K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Khare
mesh_terms: D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000502:physiology*; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000633:toxicity; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D008628:Mercury