INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ Paola Solange
artículos
Título:
Remediación biológica de mercurio: recientes avances.
Autor/es:
CINTIA E. PAISIO; PAOLA S. GONZÁLEZ; MELINA TALANO; ELIZABETH AGOSTINI
Revista:
Rev Latinoam Biotecnol Amb Algal
Editorial:
Nueva México
Referencias:
Año: 2012 vol. 3 p. 119 - 147
ISSN:
1405-2768
Resumen:
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic heavy metal that threatens human health and environment. It is found
naturally as inorganic and organic forms and all are toxic, especially the latter, due to its high lipid
solubility, which facilitates their biomagnification in the food chain. Due to the high risks that represent
the Hg-contaminated environments, there is a need to efficiently treat them. Among environmental
restoration strategies, the biological remediation is a promising technology, which comprises the bio-,
phyco-, phyto- and rhizoremediation. Thus, the purpose of this review was to compilate the main aspects
concerning to biological remediation of Hg, emphasizing the most recent developments, in order to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms involved in it and the aspects that still need to be
investigated. Thereby, in this review we describe the different mechanisms implicated and the capacity
for Hg and methylmercury removal by bacteria, fungi, algae, plants and rhizospheric microorganisms. In
addition, it describes the results using transgenic plants, which have been obtained to improve the
removal process of this metal. For decades, numerous investigation involving bacterial bioremediation
and phytoremediation of Hg have been developed. However, the use of fungi and algae for this purpose
are less explored areas. More recently, new areas into the Hg-biological remediation are being studied,
such as the rhizoremediation and the use of transgenic plants, which need to be further studied in order
to elucidate its biotechnological potential. The application of these systems to treat industrial effluents
and/or environments contaminated with Hg is also discussed.