Insights on Cadmium Removal by Bioremediation: The Case of Haloarchaea

Abstract

Although heavy metals are naturally found in the environment as components of the earth’s crust, environmental pollution by these toxic elements has increased since the industrial revolution. Some of them can be considered essential, since they play regulatory roles in different biological processes; but the role of other heavy metals in living tissues is not clear, and once ingested they can accumulate in the organism for long periods of time causing adverse health effects. To mitigate this problem, different methods have been used to remove heavy metals from water and soil, such as chelation-based processes. However, techniques like bioremediation are leaving these conventional methodologies in the background for being more effective and eco-friendlier. Recently, different research lines have been promoted, in which several organisms have been used for bioremediation approaches. Within this context, the extremophilic microorganisms represent one of the best tools for the treatment of contaminated sites due to the biochemical and molecular properties they show. Furthermore, since it is estimated that 5% of industrial effluents are saline and hypersaline, halophilic microorganisms have been suggested as good candidates for bioremediation and treatment of this kind of samples. These microorganisms, and specifically the haloarchaea group, are of interest to design strategies aiming the removal of polluting compounds due to the efficiency of their metabolism under extreme conditions and their significant tolerance to highly toxic compounds such as heavy metals, bromate, nitrite, chlorate, or perchlorate ions. However, there are still few trials that have proven the bioremediation of environments contaminated with heavy metals using these microorganisms. This review analyses scientific literature focused on metabolic capabilities of haloarchaea that may allow these microbes to tolerate and eliminate heavy metals from the media, paying special attention to cadmium. Thus, this work will shed light on potential uses of haloarchaea in bioremediation of soils and waters negatively affected by heavy metals, and more specifically by cadmium.