Identification of heavy metal tolerant bacteria isolated from the mouth of the Moche River, Trujillo – Peru

Heavy metals are important contaminants whose concomitant presence in different ecosystems has generated global concern. At the cellular level, heavy metals form unstable intermediates with genetic material and disturb different metabolic processes and the proper folding of proteins. This study was responsible for exploring, isolating, phenotypically examining and characterizing heavy metal-tolerant bacterial strains in natural environments such as the Moche River (8.1605 S, 79.034 W), near the city of Trujillo in the La Libertad region, Peru. In this study, twenty-four strains of bacteria were identified. The identified strains were evaluated against heavy metals using minimum inhibitory concentration tests, to determine their tolerance to Pb+2, Ni+2, Cr+6 and Cd+2. The bacteria tolerated the four metals at different levels. Due to their level of tolerance, these strains could be used to bioremediate and recover sites contaminated with the heavy metals evaluated.