Shree Kumar Apte
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India
Title: Genetic engineering of Deinococcus radiodurans for uranium bioremediation from high radiation environment
Biography
Biography: Shree Kumar Apte
Abstract
In nature, uranium occurs over a wide range of concentrations and is generally toxic to all living cells. Exploitation of uranium by the nuclear industry generates acid/alkaline waste, wherein uranium is found at low (<1-2mM) concentration. Removal of even such low concentrations of uranium is desirable for safe disposal of the waste, but is difficult to achieve by physico-chemical methods. Bioremediation, especially bio-precipitation as uranyl phosphate, is an efficient way to remove uranium from such waste, where high levels radiations also prevail. The radio-resistant microbe, Deinococcus radodurans, was genetically manipulated to individually over-express acid and alkaline phosphatases using deinococcal strong promoters, including the radiation-induced Pssb promoter. Lyophilization was successfully employed to preserve both the phosphatase activities and uranium precipitation ability of recombinant cells up to 1 year at ambient temperature. Such cells could remove 7-11 g U/g dry weight of the biomass.