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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2003, p. 3176-3180, Vol. 69, No. 6
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.6.3176-3180.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Enhanced Mercury Biosorption by Bacterial Cells with Surface-Displayed MerR

Weon Bae,¹ Cindy H. Wu,^1,2 Jan Kostal,¹ Ashok Mulchandani,¹ and Wilfred Chen^1*

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,¹ Environmental Toxicology Program, University of California, Riverside, California 92521²

Received 20 December 2002/ Accepted 12 March 2003

The metalloregulatory protein MerR, which exhibits high affinity and selectivity toward mercury, was exploited for the construction of microbial biosorbents specific for mercury removal. Whole-cell sorbents were constructed with MerR genetically engineered onto the surface of Escherichia coli cells by using an ice nucleation protein anchor. The presence of surface-exposed MerR on the engineered strains enabled sixfold-higher Hg²⁺ biosorption than that found in the wild-type JM109 cells. Hg²⁺ binding via MerR was very specific, with no observable decline even in the presence of 100-fold excess Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺. The Hg²⁺ binding property of the whole-cell sorbents was also insensitive to different ionic strengths, pHs, and the presence of metal chelators. Since metalloregulatory proteins are currently available for a wide variety of toxic heavy metals, our results suggest that microbial biosorbents overexpressing metalloregulatory proteins may be used similarly for the cleanup of other important heavy metals.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Phone: (909) 787-2473. Fax: (909) 787-5696. E-mail: Wilfred{at}engr.ucr.edu.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2003, p. 3176-3180, Vol. 69, No. 6
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.6.3176-3180.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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