Heavy metal toxicity has proven to be a major threat and there are several health risks associated with it. The toxic effects of these metals, even though they do not have any biological role, remain present in some or the other form harmful for the human body and its proper functioning. They sometimes act as a pseudo element of the body while at certain times they may even interfere with metabolic processes. Few metals, such as aluminium, can be removed through elimination activities, while some metals get accumulated in the body and food chain, exhibiting a chronic nature. Various public health measures have been undertaken to control, prevent and treat metal toxicity occurring at various levels, such as occupational exposure, accidents and environmental factors. Metal toxicity depends upon the absorbed dose, the route of exposure and duration of exposure, i.e. acute or chronic. This can lead to various disorders and can also result in excessive damage due to oxidative stress induced by free radical formation. This review gives details about some heavy metals and their toxicity mechanisms, along with their health effects.

https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/intox-2014-0009

Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals

Chromium toxicity in plants.

Persistent heavy metal pollution poses a major threat to all life forms in the environment due to its toxic effects. These metals are very reactive at low concentrations and can accumulate in the food web, causing severe public health concerns. Remediation using conventional physical and chemical methods is uneconomical and generates large volumes of chemical waste. Bioremediation of hazardous metals has received considerable and growing interest over the years. The use of microbial biosorbents is eco-friendly and cost effective; hence, it is an efficient alternative for the remediation of heavy metal contaminated environments. Microbes have various mechanisms of metal sequestration that hold greater metal biosorption capacities. The goal of microbial biosorption is to remove and/or recover metals and metalloids from solutions, using living or dead biomass and their components. This review discusses the sources of toxic heavy metals and describes the groups of microorganisms with biosorbent potential for heavy metal removal.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/1/94/pdf/1

A New Strategy for Heavy Metal Polluted Environments: A Review of Microbial Biosorbents

Geomycology: biogeochemical transformations of rocks, minerals, metals and radionuclides by fungi, bioweathering and bioremediation

Heavy metals, depending on their oxidation states, can be highly reactive and, as a consequence, toxic to most organisms. They are produced by an expanding variety of anthropogenic sources suggesting an increasingly important role for this form of pollution. The toxic effect of heavy metals appears to be related to production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the resulting unbalanced cellular redox status. Algae respond to heavy metals by induction of several antioxidants, including diverse enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase, and the synthesis of low molecular weight compounds such as carotenoids and glutathione. At high, or acute, levels of metal pollutants, damage to algal cells occurs because ROS levels exceed the capacity of the cell to cope. At lower, or chronic, levels algae accumulate heavy metals and can pass them on to organisms of other trophic levels such as mollusks, crustaceans, and fishes. We review here the evidence linking metal accumulation, cellular toxicity, and the generation of ROS in aquatic environments.

Heavy metal–induced oxidative stress in algae†

Chromium is a highly toxic non-essential metal for microorganisms and plants. Due to its widespread industrial use, chromium (Cr) has become a serious pollutant in diverse environmental settings. The hexavalent form of the metal, Cr(VI), is considered a more toxic species than the relatively innocuous and less mobile Cr(III) form. The presence of Cr in the environment has selected microbial and plant variants able to tolerate high levels of Cr compounds. The diverse Cr-resistance mechanisms displayed by microorganisms, and probably by plants, include biosorption, diminished accumulation, precipitation, reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III), and chromate efflux. Some of these systems have been proposed as potential biotechnological tools for the bioremediation of Cr pollution. In this review we summarize the interactions of bacteria, algae, fungi and plants with Cr and its compounds.

http://envismadrasuniv.org/Bioremediation/pdf/Interactions%20of%20chromium%20with%20microorganisms.pdf

Interactions of chromium with microorganisms and plants

Intracellular distribution of Cd, cysteine, glutathione, and Cd-induced thiol peptides in Euglena gracilis cultured under photoheterotrophic conditions was studied. After 3 days of culture with 0.2 mM CdCl2, 62% of the Cd accumulated by cells was equally distributed between the cytosolic and chloroplastic fractions. However, after 8 days, metal content increased in the crude chloroplastic fraction to 40% of total and decreased to 19% in the cytosol; in Percoll-purified chloroplasts the estimated content of Cd raised to 62%. Accumulation of Cd in chloroplasts could be mediated by a transporter of free Cd2+, since uptake of added CdCl2 in isolated chloroplasts exhibited a hyperbolic type of kinetics with a Km of 57 mM and Vmax of 3.7 nmol (mg protein)-1 min-1. The contents of cysteine and glutathione markedly increased in both chloroplasts (7-19 times) and cytosol (4-9 times) by exposure to Cd2+, although they were always higher in the cytosol. Thiol-containing peptides induced by Cd were mainly located in the cytosol after 3 days, and in the chloroplasts after 8 days of culture. The data suggested that Cd was compartmentalized into chloroplasts in a process that may involve the transport of free Cd and the participation of thiol-peptides.

Cadmium accumulation in the chloroplast of Euglena gracilis.

The uptake and removal of mercury (added as HgCl2) from the culture medium by Euglena gracilis was studied. In cultures initiated in the light, cells accumulated a small fraction of the added heavy metal (5–13%). Mercury was both biologically and nonbiologically volatilized, and cell growth was partially inhibited; under these conditions the glutathione content was 3.2 nmol/106 cells. In contrast, in cultures initiated in the dark, mercury uptake by cells was two to three times higher, biological volatilization remained unchanged and nonbiological volatilization and growth were negligible; the glutathione content diminished to 1.4 nmol/106 cells. Biological mercury volatilization depended on cell density and metal concentration, but was light-independent. Thus, volatilization of mercury by Euglena appeared not to be an effective mechanism of resistance, whereas a high intracellular level of glutathione and a low mercury uptake seemed necessary for successful tolerance.

Mercury uptake and removal by Euglena gracilis.

The effects of different concentrations of Hg, Cd, and Pb on cell growth, oxygen consumption, and production and contents of chlorophyll a and b of Z and B strains of Euglena gracilis was studied. Cell uptake of Cd and Pb was also determined. A greater cell density reached in the presence of Cd2+ correlated with a lower metal uptake capacity in B-strain cells. Cells of Z strain, preexposed to low concentrations of either Hg2+ (1.5 μM) or Cd2+ (50 μM) for several generations showed improved heavy metal tolerance (greater cell density and viability) together with similar metal uptake capacity. Because Cd2+ preadaptation but not Hg2+ pretreatment induced a significant increase in the content of acid-soluble thiols, the data suggest the existence of different mechanisms of heavy metal detoxification in Euglena. The fact that Z-strain cells showed a greater Cd2+ uptake under all the conditions assayed suggests that Z strain would be more suitable for bioremediation of polluted waters.

Silvia Devars

Papers

Interactions of chromium with microorganisms and plants

Cadmium accumulation in the chloroplast of Euglena gracilis.

Mercury uptake and removal by Euglena gracilis.

Enhanced Heavy Metal Tolerance in Two Strains of Photosynthetic Euglena gracilis by Preexposure to Mercury or Cadmium

Distribution of control of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria oxidizing NAD-linked substrates.