Genetic engineering of Escherichia coli for enhanced uptake and bioaccumulation of mercury

Synthetic phytochelatins (ECs) are a new class of metal-binding peptides with a repetitive metal-binding motif, (Glu-Cys)(n)Gly, which were shown to bind heavy metals more effectively than metallothioneins. However, the limited uptake across the cell membrane is often the rate-limiting factor for the intracellular bioaccumulation of heavy metals by genetically engineered organisms expressing these metal-binding peptides. In this paper, two potential solutions were investigated to overcome this uptake limitation either by coexpressing an Hg(2+) transport system with (Glu-Cys)(20)Gly (EC20) or by directly expressing EC20 on the cell surface. Both approaches were equally effective in increasing the bioaccumulation of Hg(2+). Since the available transport systems are presently limited to only a few heavy metals, our results suggest that bioaccumulation by bacterial sorbents with surface-expressed metal-binding peptides may be useful as a universal strategy for the cleanup of heavy metal contamination.