Raluca ŞTEFĂNESCU¹, Alina-Elena BUTNARIU², Maria-Magdalena ZAMFIRACHE², Andriana SURLEVA³, Cătălina Ionica CIOBANU¹, Olga PINTILIE⁴ & Gabi DROCHIOIU^1*
1Faculty of Chemistry, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, 11 Carol I, Iasi-700506, Romania, rallstef@gmail.com, catalina.ciobanu@uaic.ro, gabidr@uaic.ro
²Faculty of Biology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, 20A Carol I, Iasi-700505, Romania, butnariu_alina@yahoo.com, magda@uaic.ro
³Analytical Chemistry Department, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 8 St. Kl. Ohridski av., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria, surleva@uctm.edu
⁴ Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, 20A Carol I, Iasi-700505, Romania, olgapintilie@yahoo.com

YEAST-BASED MICROBIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATED SOILS OF TARNIŢA

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Heavy-metal pollution of forest soils represents an important environmental concern due to the toxic effects of metals, and their accumulation throughout the food chain. In this paper, the yeast-based decontamination of soil containing high amounts of heavy metals and arsenic, originated from a sterile dump of Tarniţa-Suceava, Romania, was investigated. The sterile dump and soil around it contain increased concentrations of Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, Ba, and As, that affected the germination of wheat seeds used here as an indicator of toxicity. The germination of wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum) was interrupted by small amounts of sterile dump material, but recovered after soil washing with distilled water, and removing the supernatant. Furthermore, seed germination was strongly inhibited when the wheat seeds were treated with the toxic supernatant, which was extracted from the sample. In conclusion, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) succeeded to partly retain heavy metals and arsenic from soil extracts.