[Mercury-resistant bacteria from permafrost sediments and prospects for their use in comparative studies of mercury resistance determinants].
Mercury-resistant bacteria were isolated from permafrost sediments of Kolyma lowland and Canada existing over five thousand to two million years. Their content was shown to vary within the range 0.001-2.9% and to depend on the amount of mercury in sampling sites (coefficient of correlation 0.75). A collection of mercury-resistant bacterial strains was created. In this collection, various representatives of both Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus, Exiguobacterium, Micrococcus, Arthrobacter) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Plesiomonas, Myxobacteriales) were identified. Most resistant bacteria were found to contain determinants homologous to mer-operons of contemporary bacteria. The isolated strains of paleobacteria are proposed to be used for a comparative structural study of contemporary and ancient plasmids and transposons carrying mercury resistance determinants.
Petrova
M A
MA
Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 123182 Russia. petrova@img.ras.ru
Mindlin
S Z
SZ
Gorlenko
Zh M
ZhM
Kaliaeva
E S
ES
Soina
V S
VS
Bogdanova
E S
ES
D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002170:Canada; D002980:Climate; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D005544:Forecasting; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D008628:Mercury / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009876:Operon; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012800:Siberia
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D008628:Mercury