Implications of Microbial Heavy Metal Tolerance in the Environment

This paper focuses on the general ways in which microbes interact with metals. Some bacteria have evolved mechanisms to detoxify heavy metals, and some even use them for respiration. Microbial interactions with metals may have several implications for the environment. Microbes may play a large role in the biogeochemical cycling of toxic heavy metals also in cleaning up or remediating metal-contaminated environments. There is also evidence of a correlation between tolerance to heavy metals and antibiotic resistance, a global problem currently threatening the treatment of infections in plants, animals, and humans.