Cell wall of Lactobacillus sporogenes has high affinity for binding and removing arsenic from water

Abstract Groundwater arsenic contamination causes health hazards in more than 30 countries worldwide. It causes serious health hazards in arsenic arsenic-exposed populations. Existing arsenic removal technologies are not very effective in the removal of arsenic due to high costs, the requirement of continuous power supply, and honor ship conflict in rural areas. The present study focuses on the arsenic removal potential of Lactobacillus sporogenes . In this study, Lactobacillus sporogenes were incubated in 50 ppb, 100 ppb, and 200 ppb standard solution of arsenic for 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours. The solutions were filtered for separation of arsenic conjugates binds on the cell wall of Lactobacillus sporogenes from water samples. The arsenic remains in filtered water samples were also measured. A maximum of 95% arsenic was removed from the water in the 4-hour incubation group. The bacterial cell wall was further analyzed to find arsenic bound with Lactobacillus . It was observed that out of all arsenic removed almost 87.5% of arsenic was recovered from bacterial cell walls. Such a high level of recovery of arsenic from bacterial walls confirmed a high affinity of arsenic binding with the cell wall of Lactobacillus sporogenes . These findings suggest that Lactobacillus sporogenes may act as potent arsenic-removing agents from water in the future.