Water Remediation by Metal Binding Protein| A Method to Offset Environmentally Hazardous Practices

• Main Author: Nguyen, Hieu H.
• Language: EN
• Published: California State University, Long Beach 2018
• Subjects: Biochemistry
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10784348

<p> The acquisition of fossil fuels has many harmful effects on the environment. One of those effects is the release of toxic heavy metals, which may find its way to water reservoirs or ecosystems. Metallothionein (MT) is a metal binding protein that has potential to alleviate such metal pollutions by scavenging for these metals. It can also be used to collect scarce metals used in industrial practices. The results showed that MT is able to bind metals in an organic environment, and that MT may be induced to release metals with the addition of acid. It was also found that the amount of metal bound is proportional to the amount of MT used. Despite efforts to show that MT may be used in PUREX, results indicate that the protein is unlikely to be used for this purpose. </p><p>