The trafficking of Hg by alleviating its toxicity via Citrobacter sp. IITISM25 in batch and pilot-scale investigation.

The study aims to see how effective the Citrobacter species strain is in removing Hg under stressful conditions. For this, a response surface methodology was chosen to optimized pH, temperature, and biomass for effective biotransformation of Hg. The optimized value for pH, temperature, and biomass were 6.5, 30 °C, and 2 mg/l with 89% Hg removal potential. TEM-EDX showed accumulated mercury onto the bacterial surface. Pot study was conducted to check the potentiality of this strain in alleviating the toxicity in Solanum lycopersicum L. under different concentrations of mercury. The enhancement in antioxidative enzymes, as well as mercury accumulation, was observed in test plants inoculated with IITISM25. Obtained result showed a greater accumulation of mercury in the root system than that of the shoot system due to poor translocation. Moreover, mercury reductase enzyme synthesis was also boosted by the addition of β-mercaptoethanol and L-cysteine. The optimized condition for maximum enzyme synthesis was at pH 7.5 and temperature 30 °C with Km = 48.07 μmol and Vmax = 9.75 μmol/min. Thus, we can say that Citrobacter species strain IITISM25 can be effectively applied in remediation of Hg stress condition as well as promotion of Solanum lycopersicum L growth under stress conditions as a promising host.