A solid-phase direct contact bioassay using sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) to evaluate toxicity of soil contaminated with heavy metals

The current study tested the employment of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) in a direct contact bioassay to evaluate toxicity of soil contaminated with heavy metals. SOB were directly exposed to soil spiked with arsenic, nickel, hexavalent chromium, zinc, mercury, copper, lead, or cadmium for 12 h in a kit-type bioassay. Oxygen consumption by SOB was used as the end-point for toxicity assessment. The results demonstrate that oxygen consumption by...