Efficient removal of zinc by multi-stress-tolerant yeast Pichia kudriavzevii A16

Heavy metal bioaccumulation by growing microorganisms is a potential technique for treating the heavy metal pollution in food materials, e.g. fishery processing wastes. In this study, a multi-stress-tolerant yeast with high Zn tolerance and efficient Zn removal ability was screened and renamed as Pichia kudriavzevii A16 after identification. High salinity and low pH obviously increased the Zn bioaccumulation capacity of P. kudriavzevii A16, contributing to the increasing Zn removal rate of P. kudriavzevii A16 at 0.5 mmol/L Zn from 67.69% to 77.03% and 96.09%, respectively. P. kudriavzevii A16 displayed high specificity of Zn removal at high concentrations of Cu, while high concentrations of Cd significantly inhibited the Zn removal by restraining the yeast growth. P. kudriavzevii A16 possessed more powerful Zn removal ability than Saccharomyces cerevisiae CICC1211 under various environmental stresses. The multi-stress-tolerant P. kudriavzevii A16 can be developed into a potential Zn removal agent using in complex food environments.