Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Heavy Metal Tolerant Bacteria from Mula River, Pune, Maharashtra, India

The pollution of the environment with toxic heavy metals is spreading throughout the world along with industrial progress. The present study deals with isolation, identification and characterization of heavy metal tolerant bacteria. Heavy metal tolerating bacteria was isolated from Mula river, Chinchwad, Pune, Maharashtra, India. On the basis of morphological, biochemical, 16S rDNA gene sequencingand phylogeny analysis revealed that, the isolate MR4 was identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae. The K. pneumoniae showed optimum growth at 28°C and pH 7.0. The K. pneumoniae was resistant to cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and copper (Cu). The multiple metal tolerance of the isolate was also associated with resistance to antibiotics such as ampicillin and vancomycin. Morphological changes of the K. pneumoniaein the presence of various heavy metals were observed by phase contrast microscopy. The identified heavy metal tolerant bacteria could be useful for the bioremediation of heavy metal contaminated sites.