Exploitation of Genetic Capacities of Bacteria for Improved Plasmid Stability in Remediation of Arsenic Pollution

In recent time arsenic pollution is a serious threat to the human life. This pollutant is most prevalent in south eastern part of Asia. If not controlled properly it leads to severe diseases like cancer and ultimately death. Till date not too much has been done towards the development of any bioremediation methodology for this highly toxic chemical. There are scanty reports on the development of recombinant bacterial strains which has been used for the bioremediation of arsenic. In this study we have attempted to develop a methodology to improve the stability of arsenic sensitive genes (ars R) in a recombinant bacterial strain. Towards this end, genetically engineered bacterial strain, DH5α, has been transformed with ars R gene which was exposed to the arsenic rich water sample. Our study established that in the presence of arsenic in the medium, this cell is forced to maintain this plasmids and stably expressed in the bioreactors