microorganisms Review Unraveling the Underlying Heavy Metal Detoxification Mechanisms of Bacillus Species Badriyah Shadid Alotaibi 1, Maryam Khan 2 and Saba Shamim 2,* 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia;
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[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: The rise of anthropogenic activities has resulted in the increasing release of various contaminants into the environment, jeopardizing fragile ecosystems in the process. Heavy metals are one of the major pollutants that contribute to the escalating problem of environmental pollution, being primarily introduced in sensitive ecological habitats through industrial effluents, wastewater, as well as sewage of various industries. Where heavy metals like zinc, copper, manganese, and nickel serve key roles in regulating different biological processes in living systems, many heavy metals can be toxic even at low concentrations, such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead, and can accumulate in intricate food chains resulting in health concerns. Over the years, many physical and chemical methods of heavy metal removal have essentially been investigated, but their disadvantages like the generation of chemical waste, complex downstream processing, and the uneconomical cost of both methods, have rendered them inefficient,. Since then, microbial bioremediation, particularly the Citation: Alotaibi, B.S.; Khan, M.; use of bacteria, has gained attention due to the feasibility and efficiency of using them in removing Shamim, S. Unraveling the heavy metals from contaminated environments. Bacteria have several methods of processing heavy Underlying Heavy Metal metals through general resistance mechanisms, biosorption, adsorption, and efflux mechanisms.