Evaluation of the Bioremediation Potential of Staphlococcus lentus Inoculations of Plants as a Promising Strategy Used to Attenuate Chromium Toxicity

Abstract

Current industrial developments, advanced farming techniques, and further anthropogenic activities are adding substantial amounts of heavy metals into the ecosystem and having dangerous effects on lifeforms, including plants and animals, and changing their biological activities. Decontamination following the heavy metal contamination is an important point deserving attention in the current scenario. Among all the other approaches used for this purpose, bioremediation is ecofriendly and green approach that can be used to remediate heavy metal toxicity. In plant cells, the regulation of ionic homeostasis is a primary physiological prerequisite for upholding plant development, growth, and production. To avoid the dreadful effects of toxic heavy metal exposure, plants manifest physiological, biochemical, and structural responses. In the present research, we reported on the isolation and molecular identification of an effective heavy-metal-tolerant bacterial strain, Staphylococcus lentus (E3), having a minimum inhibitory concentration of 300 µg/mL for chromium, Cr, taken from soil polluted with industrial effluents at Kasur, Pakistan. Bacterial inoculations enhanced all the growth parameters of Triticum aestivum and Helianthus annus. To observe the physiological strain, the proline content and peroxidase (POD) activities were estimated under Cr stress in the bacterial-inoculated plants. The chlorophyll content and Cr uptake in the aerial parts the of plants were also studied, along with the overexpression of proteins. The bacterial inoculations produced encouraging results. Bioremediation using PGPR is an efficient, convincing, and reliable approach to attenuating heavy metal toxicity.