Genetic improvement of Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense for enhanced biological removal of phosphate

Objectives To improve its phosphate accumulating abilities for phosphate recycling from wastewater, a magnetotactic bacterium, Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense , was genetically modified to over-express polyphosphate kinase. Results Polyphosphate kinase was over-expressed in the bacterium. The recombinant strain accumulated ninefold more polyphosphate from synthetic wastewater compared to original wild type. The magnetic property of the recombinant M. gryphiswaldense strain was retained. Conclusions The recombinant M. gryphiswaldense can be used for phosphate removal and recovery in bioremediation.