Genetic characterization of sulphur and iron oxidizing bacteria in manganese mining area of Balaghat and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

The aim of present study was to explore microbiology of manganese mining area of Balaghat and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India with the objective of reducing load of mine based pollution to support environmental sustainability with help of bacterial isolates. The research involves physicochemical analysis, culture dependent methods, 16S rDNA based sequencing and computational phylogenetic analysis. The 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed the occurrence of two iron oxidizing bacteria (<em>Staphylococcus hominis </em>and <em>Pseudomonas sp.</em>) and four sulphur oxidizing bacteria (<em>Bacillus cereus </em>HYM74, <em>B. anthracis, B. cereus</em> D42 and <em>Pantoea calida</em>) in the selected sites. All cultures were able to grow on acidic as well as neutral pH medium and at low temperature of 4^oC. Bacterial isolates were also found with heavy metal tolerance for Mn⁺⁷ and Cr⁺⁶ up to the concentration of 1000 ppm. This study assists the idea of biomineralization, bioremediation and future reclamation in the selected mining area with the help of bacteria.