Student Researcher Florida Institute of Technology Palm Bay, Florida
Body of Abstract: Growth in industrial and agricultural sectors has significantly increased the amount of heavy metal pollutants in topsoils and waterways. Many heavy metals are essential for plant growth at low concentrations but have well-established deleterious effects at higher concentrations. The remediation or removal of heavy metal pollutants from soil and groundwater is crucial to maintain agricultural assets in a world with increased pollution and limited arable land. Such remediation may also assist Lunar or Martian settlements, due to the high concentrations of various metals found at these sites. Gram-negative Cupriavidus metallidurans is known to withstand heavy metal stress and we hypothesized that this microorganism could be used as an amendment to contaminated soils limiting the damaging effects of toxic metals on plant growth. Specifically, we hypothesize that C. metallidurans can help alleviate heavy metal stress in plants exposed to toxic levels of chromate (CrO42-) or copper (Cu2+) due to its innate resistance to these stressors. Additionally, these metals were chosen because both are present on the planet Mars and the moon. In the present study we have evaluated the potential of these microorganisms to limit the deleterious effects of chromate and copper on the growth of Lactuca sativa. We discuss our findings in terms of their impact on both terrestrial agriculture as well as regolith-based agriculture on off-world settlements.