Molecular insights into the activity and mechanism of cyanide hydratase enzyme associated with cyanide biodegradation by Serratia marcescens

An Overview of Emerging Cyanide Bioremediation Methods

Cyanide compounds are hazardous compounds which are extremely toxic to living organisms, especially free cyanide in the form of hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN) and cyanide ion (CN−). These cyanide compounds are metabolic inhibitors since they can tightly bind to the metals of metalloenzymes. Anthropogenic sources contribute significantly to CN− contamination in the environment, more specifically to surface and underground waters. The treatment processes, such as chemical and physical treatment processes, have been implemented. However, these processes have drawbacks since they generate additional contaminants which further exacerbates the environmental pollution. The biological treatment techniques are mostly overlooked as an alternative to the conventional physical and chemical methods. However, the recent research has focused substantially on this method, with different reactor configurations that were proposed. However, minimal attention was given to the emerging technologies that sought to accelerate the treatment with a subsequent resource recovery from the process. Hence, this review focuses on the recent emerging tools that can be used to accelerate cyanide biodegradation. These tools include, amongst others, electro-bioremediation, anaerobic biodegradation and the use of microbial fuel cell technology. These processes were demonstrated to have the possibility of producing value-added products, such as biogas, co-factors of neurotransmitters and electricity from the treatment process.

Extending the benefits of PGPR to bioremediation of nitrile pollution in crop lands for enhancing crop productivity

Incessant release of nitrile group of compounds such as cyanides into agricultural land through industrial effluents and excessive use of nitrile pesticides has resulted in increased nitrile pollution. Release of nitrile compounds (NCs) as plant root exudates is also contributing to the problem. The released NCs interact with soil elements and persists for a long time. Persistent higher concentration of NCs in soil cause toxicity to beneficial microflora and affect crop productivity. The NCs can cause more problems to human health if they reach groundwater and enter the food chain. Nitrile degradation by soil bacteria can be a solution to the problem if thoroughly exploited. However, the impact of such bacteria in plant and soil environments is still not properly explored. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with nitrilase activity has recently gained attention as potential solution to address the problem. This paper reviews the core issue of nitrile pollution in soil and the prospects of application of nitrile degrading bacteria for soil remediation, soil health improvement and plant growth promotion in nitrile-polluted soils. The possible mechanisms of PGPR that can be exploited to degrade NCs, converting them into plant useful compounds and synthesis of the phytohormone IAA from degraded NCs are also discussed at length.

Cyanide treatment of mining tailings using suspended biomass and moving bed biomass reactors

Mexico is the top producer of silver and is on the eighth place from producing gold in the world. For instance, the hydrometallurgical extraction process produces wastewater (mining tailing) characterized by being composed with varying concentrations of cyanide and heavy metals. The purpose of this research was to study the biodegradation of cyanide contained in mining tailings by means of a bacterial consortium isolated from a tailings dam. For this purpose, three types of Eckendfelder reactors were used, one with suspended biomass (BS) and two moving bed biofilter reactors, one with biomass immobilized on Kaldnes (BK) supports, and the other on polyurethane cubes (BCP). Three experimental stages were worked; in each of them, the concentrations of total cyanide were varied. In the first one, it was 26 ± 2 mg·L^-1; in the second one 40 ± 4 mg·L^-1; and the third one 55 ± 4 mg·L^-1. During the whole operation, the pH and temperature were maintained at 9.5 units and 25 °C. After 141 days of operation, biodegradation of the total cyanide contained in the mining tailings was 69% (17 mg·L^-1) in the BS reactor, while in the BK reactor, it was 93% (3.9 mg·L^-1) and in the BCP reactor 95% (2.5 mg·L^-1). The predominant families in each of the reactors, as well as their respective relative abundances, were for the BS and for the BK of Cyclobacteriaceae (20.65% and 24.64%) and Rhizobiaceae (18.48% and 14.01%) and Halomonadaceae (46.97%) and Hyphomonadaceae (24.94%) in the BCP.

Application Potential of Cyanide Hydratase from Exidia glandulosa: Free Cyanide Removal from Simulated Industrial Effluents

Industries such as mining, cokemaking, (petro)chemical and electroplating produce effluents that contain free cyanide (fCN = HCN + CN−). Currently, fCN is mainly removed by (physico)chemical methods or by biotreatment with activated sludge. Cyanide hydratases (CynHs) (EC 4.2.1.66), which convert fCN to the much less toxic formamide, have been considered for a mild approach to wastewater decyanation. However, few data are available to evaluate the application potential of CynHs. In this study, we used a new CynH from Exidia glandulosa (protein KZV92691.1 designated NitEg by us), which was overproduced in Escherichia coli. The purified NitEg was highly active for fCN with 784 U/mg protein, kcat 927/s and kcat/KM 42/s/mM. It exhibited optimal activities at pH approximately 6–9 and 40–45 °C. It was quite stable in this pH range, and retained approximately 40% activity at 37 °C after 1 day. Silver and copper ions (1 mM) decreased its activity by 30–40%. The removal of 98–100% fCN was achieved for 0.6–100 mM fCN. Moreover, thiocyanate, sulfide, ammonia or phenol added in amounts typical of industrial effluents did not significantly reduce the fCN conversion, while electroplating effluents may need to be diluted due to high fCN and metal content. The ease of preparation of NitEg, its high specific activity, robustness and long shelf life make it a promising biocatalyst for the detoxification of fCN.