BIOREMEDIATION OF LEAD USING LEAD(II) REDUCTASE FOUND IN BACTERIA: IN SILICO MOLECULAR DOCKING

Abstract

Heavy metals are naturally existing components of the environment, human activity has upset their metabolic equilibrium and geochemical cycles. Increased accumulation of certain heavy metals and prolonged exposure to them can be harmful to human health and the aquatic biota. Bioremediation is one of the most cost-effective, safest, cleanest, and ecologically friendly methods for decontaminating areas contaminated with various toxins. It eliminates these harmful substances. We call this process of using biological organisms to take out hazardous material from the environment "bioremediation." Heavy metals are the toxic waste that significantly damages the environment. A comprehensive sequence analysis was carried out in order to better understand the role that Pb reductase plays in reducing Pb(II) to Pb(0). Various homology modelling techniques were then used to generate models for both wild-type and mutant Pb(II) species. The models' protein structure quality was evaluated, and the top model was chosen to undergo additional refinement through the application of an energy reduction technique. The intramolecular interactions between Pb(II) and wild-type and mutant Pb reductase were investigated using molecular docking experiments. This is a new technique for figuring out Pb reductase's three-dimensional structure and how it interacts with Pb to change it into a less dangerous form.