Affiliation:
1. Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology Branch, Environmental Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561
Abstract
The mechanism of adaptation to Hg
2+
in four aquatic habitats was studied by correlating microbially mediated Hg
2+
volatilization with the adaptive state of the exposed communities. Community diversity, heterotrophic activity, and Hg
2+
resistance measurements indicated that adaptation of all four communities was stimulated by preexposure to Hg
2+
. In saline water communities, adaptation was associated with rapid volatilization after an initial lag period. This mechanism, however, did not promote adaptation in a freshwater sample, in which Hg
2+
was volatilized slowly, regardless of the resistance level of the microbial community. Distribution of the
mer
operon among representative colonies of the communities was not related to adaptation to Hg
2+
. Thus, although volatilization enabled some microbial communities to sustain their functions in Hg
2+
-stressed environments, it was not mediated by the genes that serve as a model system in molecular studies of bacterial resistance to mercurials.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
Reference41 articles.
1. Elemental mercury evolution mediated by humic acid;Alberts J. J.;Science,1974
2. Sublethal effects of several metallic salts-organic compounds combinations upon the heterotrophic microflora of a natural water;Albright L. J.;Water Res.,1974
3. Atlas R. M. 1984. Use of microbial diversity measurements to assess environmental stress p. 540-545. In M. J. Klug and C. A. Reddy (ed.) Current perspectives in microbial ecology. American Society for Microbiology Washington D.C.
4. Differential toxicities of mercury to bacteria and bacteriophages in sea and lake waters;Babich H.;Can. J. Microbiol.,1979
5. Phenotypic and genotypic adaptation of aerobic heterotrophic sediment bacterial communities to mercury stress;Barkay T.;Appl. Environ. Microbiol.,1986
Cited by
104 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献