title: Phenylmercuric acetate biodegradation by environmental strains of Pseudomonas species.
abstract: Organomercurial pollution occurring in the Rhine river in 1986 led us to study the possibility of depollution by mercury-resistant environmental aquatic strains. Four species of Pseudomonas were investigated for their ability to biotransform phenylmercuric acetate (PMA). Such biological depollution was demonstrated to be due to an enzymatic activity in whole cells and in cell-free extracts from Pseudomonas fluorescens and other Pseudomonas species. PMA biotransformation was followed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Some of those bacteria growing between 4 and 41 degrees C probably represent a natural means of organomercurial depollution, which acts slowly in interaction with other organisms and non-organic porous surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie bactérienne, Institut de Bactériologie de la Faculté de Médecine, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mirgain
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Werneburg
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harf
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Monteil
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D010663:Phenylmercury Compounds / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000378:metabolism*; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010663:Phenylmercury Compounds; D003545:Cysteine