Isolation and identification of Bacillus cereus

Persistent heavy metal pollution poses a major threat to all life forms in the environmentdue to its toxic effects. These metals are very reactive at low concentrations and can accumulate in the food web, causing severe public health concerns. Remediation using conventional physical and chemical methods is uneconomical and generates large volumes of chemical waste. Bioremediation of hazardous metals has received considerable and growing interest over the years. It has been employed for the removal of heavy metals from contaminated wastewaters and soils. Similarly, the use of microorganisms to remediate polluted environments is sustainable and helps to restore the natural state of the polluted environment with long term environmental benefits and cost effectiveness. Soil samples will be collected from Bawa Chak (Pharang drain). Cadmium resistant bacteria will be isolated from soil by agar plate method. After isolation of single pure colony, staining and biochemical tests will be performed for the characterization of the isolated bacterium. To ascertain cadmium uptake ability, the bacterial isolate will be grown in LB broth supplemented with different concentrations of cadmium.