Development of Enhanced Bioremediation Technology for the Treatment of Heavy-Metal Contaminated Media( II )

Heavy metals are highly toxic. Exposure to heavy metals may lead to dysfunction of human health.Remediation of contamination of heavy metals is critical issues in environmental protection. Compared tophysical or chemical processes, biological remediation (microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation) aremore economy and environmental friendly approaches and also more acceptable by general public.Bioremediation of heavy metals by bacteria in association with the molecular biotechnology is a verypromising approach. Therefore, indigenous strains of microorganisms isolated from mercury contaminatedsite will be the best candidates for microbial remediation of mercury. The indigenous microorganisms areexcellent candidates to develop bioremediation approach for mercury contaminated area in situ. We hope toincrease the ability of heavy metals by genetic engineeringbacteria, and apply them to bioremediate heavymetals. The specific aims of this study are to (1) evaluate and characterize the ability of heay metals removalby engineering microorganisms harbouring metallothionein; (2) grow mercury removal microorganisms bylab scale fermentation; (3) develop the model of bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated soils byengineering microorganisms and metallothionein with pilot scale model in the lab.