Present-day mercury resistance transposons are common in bacteria preserved in permafrost grounds since the Upper Pleistocene.
Transposons closely related to mercury resistance transposons Tn5041, Tn5053, and Tn5056, which have been previously described in present-day bacteria, were detected in a survey of 12 mercury-resistant Pseudomonas strains isolated from permafrost samples aged 15-40 thousand years. In addition, Tn5042, a novel type of mercury resistance transposon, was revealed in the permafrost strain collection and its variants found to be common among present-day bacteria. The results reveal that no drastic changes in the distribution mode of the different types of mercury resistance transposons among environmental bacteria have taken place in the last 15-40 thousand years.
Mindlin
Sofia
S
Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 123182, Russia. mindlin@img.ras.ru
Minakhin
Leonid
L
Petrova
Mayya
M
Kholodii
Gennady
G
Minakhina
Svetlana
S
Gorlenko
Zhosefine
Z
Nikiforov
Vadim
V
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D007053:Ice; D008628:Mercury / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009876:Operon; D010163:Paleontology; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011551:Pseudomonas fluorescens / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016958:Pseudomonas putida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D007053:Ice; D008628:Mercury