Search

Simple Summary: Remediation of uranium-contaminated soils is a crucial and arduous task essential for safeguarding environmental protection and human health. In this study, a bacterium named Bacillus cereus B6 was isolated from the rhizosphere of native plants thriving in uranium tailing-contaminated soil. This bacterium exhibits high tolerance to elevated concentrations of uranium and enhances plant growth by facilitating nutrient uptake. Seed germination and potting experiments were conducted under simulated uranium contamination conditions, with B6 inoculated onto Sorghum sudanense. The results demonstrated that B6 significantly improved the efficiency of uranium uptake by Sudan grass and promoted the translocation of uranium to the aboveground portions of the plant. The research confirms the substantial effectiveness and favorable future of integrating Sorghum sudanense with Bacillus cereus for the purification of soils polluted with uranium, establishing a theoretical basis for its practical use. Phytoremediation technology is viewed as a potential solution for addressing soil uranium contamination. Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf.), noted for its robust root structure and resilience to heavy metals, has garnered significant attention. This paper investigates a strain of uranium-tolerant bacterium, B6, obtained from the inter-root environment of native plants in soil contaminated with uranium tailings. The bacterium was identified as Bacillus cereus. Genomic analyses and assessment of uranium tolerance-promoting properties showed that strain B6 not only exhibited high uranium tolerance, but also possessed beneficial properties such as phosphorus solubilization and iron-producing carriers. In this study, we used strain B6 as an inoculant in combination with Sudan grass for germination and potting experiments. The findings demonstrated that Bacillus cereus B6 could substantially mitigate the adverse effects of uranium stress on Sudan grass, boost the plant's antioxidant response, significantly increase the root length and dry biomass of Sudan grass, and facilitate the accumulation of uranium in the roots, as well as its translocation to the aboveground portions. The study showed that PGPB strain B6 can significantly enhance the effect of plant accumulation of uranium and increase the potential of Sudan grass to become a uranium-rich plant, which provides an important scientific basis and application prospect for the use of microbial-assisted Sudan grass remediation technology to treat uranium-contaminated soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]