Identification and characterization of a Pb, Cu and antibiotic resistant bacteria from soil of industrial wastewater ground

Industrial effluents consist many pollutant and heavy metals. Bacteria isolated from industrial west water ground may have potential to tolerate heavy metal. In this study we isolate a Citrobacter sp. which can resist heavy metal like Cu and Pb. Slurry from industrial west water ground was collected from 22.0663 N, 88.1041 E. The heavy metal content and other parameters of soil were estimated. The bacterial strains were isolated by using nutrient agar plate supplemented with 2 mM copper and lead. Among the strains one was selected for further study on the basis of resistivity against Cu and Pb. The bacteria were identified by 16S rRNA analysis. Extracellular capsules produced by the isolate were precipitated using isopropanol and analysed by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The isolate can tolerate more than 2.25 mM copper and lead. In this study bacteria were identified as Citrobacter freundii strain NK2. Presence of copper and lead in extracellular capsule were obtained by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. Moreover the bacteria also exhibited multi drug resistance to many antibiotics. Isolated bacteria produce biofilms, which have chelating property. The biofilm might be used as bioabsorbent.