Cr(VI) (chromate) is a toxic, soluble environmental contaminant. Bacteria can reduce chromate to the insoluble and less toxic Cr(III), and thus chromate bioremediation is of interest. Genetic and protein engineering of suitable enzymes can improve bacterial bioremediation. Many bacterial enzymes catalyze one-electron reduction of chromate, generating Cr(V), which redox cycles, generating excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS). Such enzymes are not appropriate for bioremediation, as they harm the bacteria and their primary end product is not Cr(III). In this work, the chromate reductase activities of two electrophoretically pure soluble bacterial flavoproteins—ChrR (from
Most polluted sites contain mixed waste. This is especially true of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) waste sites which hold a complex mixture of heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic solvents. In such environments enzymes that can remediate multiple pollutants are advantageous. We report here evolution of an enzyme, ChrR6 (formerly referred to as Y6), which shows a markedly enhanced capacity for remediating two of the most serious and prevalent DOE contaminants, chromate and uranyl. ChrR6 is a soluble enzyme and reduces chromate and uranyl intracellularly. Thus, the reduced product is at least partially sequestered and nucleated, minimizing the chances of reoxidation. Only one amino acid change,
Tyr
128
Asn
, was responsible for the observed improvement. We show here that ChrR6 makes