Bioremediation of soluable toxic waste

Hexavalent chromium (chromate) is a widespread industrial waste product that is highly toxic and environmentally mobile due to its extreme water solubility and oxidizing potential. Removal of chromate from the environment has proven to be a challenging task, however, bioremediation through the usage of bacteria has yielded results. Many bacteria have the ability to reduce chromate to the less toxic form, but a novel bacteria, Pseudomonas veronii, has expressed reduction of chromate (Cr(VI)) to Cr(III). We used several protein purification methods to quantify protein concentration and determine the specific activity of chromate reductase.