Heavy metal binding peptides – biosorbents with economic and ecological potential

Critical heavy metal concentrations can be found in environmental and/or industrial systems. Removal of metals for detoxification (bioremediation) and recovery of metals (geobiotechnology) from natural water bodies or waste waters is challenging because of low concentrated metal ions. Artificial peptides, that are able to bind metal ions, are of great potential as they combine unique sensitivity and high specificity.
Here we present the development of peptide-based biosorptive materials for heavy metal removal, including identification, adaptation and characterization of specific peptides binding nickel and cobalt. Using Phage Surface Display (PSD) and deep sequencing we identified and produced metal binding peptides. Metal-peptide interactions were studied using e.g. quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), and UV/Vis spectroscopy. With this study we provide a system that can be adapted to other materials and knowledge about the nature of metal-peptide interaction, which may lead to the discovery of novel metal-interacting biomolecules, e.g. enzymes and peptides.