Isolation and molecular identification of mercury resistant bacteria and detection of Escherichia coli mercuric reductase gene from wastewater of Khowr-e-Musa, Iran

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/08/2013
Views (294) Download (7)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Isolation and molecular identification of mercury resistant bacteria and detection of Escherichia coli mercuric reductase gene from wastewater of Khowr-e-Musa, Iran

Farshid Kafilzadeh, Yasamin Zahirian, Hossein Zolgharnein
Int. J. Biosci.3( 8), 313-318, August 2013.
Certificate: IJB 2013 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

Mercuric compounds are extending over large natural environment as a result of industrial pollution. Resistance to these compounds have been found in a wide range of bacterial species isolated from various environment. The aim of this study was to investigate of mercury resistant bacteria on the seashore wastewater of Khowr-e-Musa in Mahshahr area, in the south west of Iran, which one of the most important petrochemical chlor-alkali unit is located there. For this purpose, water samples were taken from wastewater of three stations. Amount of total mercury in the samples was measured using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometery. Two approaches namely, conventional biochemical test and modern molecular approaches were used for identification. Mercury toxicity was measured via minimal inhibitory concentration method. Bacillus cereus, E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated and identified based on 16S rRNA gene homology, and resistance to mercuric chloride was at 400, 450 and 75 ppm, respectively. The location of E.coli mer operon was determined by plasmid curing. E.coli showed the presence of a plasmid DNA which is carries mer operon, and 1695 bp of merA gene was amplified by PCR method. The results exhibited that isolated bacteria in present study were resistant and could grow on high concentration of mercury.

VIEWS 12

Barkay T, Miller SM, Summers AO. 2003. Bacterial mercury resistance from atoms to ecosystems. FEMS Microbiogy Reviews 27, 355-384. http://dx.doi.org/0.1016/S0168-6445(03)00046-9

Barkay  T,  Wagner-Dobler  I.  2005.  Microbial transformation: potentials, challenges and achievements in controlling mercury toxicity in the environment. Advances in Applied Microbiology 57, 1-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2164(05)57001-1

Griffin HG, Foster TJ, Silver S, Misra TK. 1987. Cloning and DNA sequence of the mercuric-and organomercurial-resistance  determinant  of  plasmid pDU1358. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  of  the  United  States  of  America  84(10), 3112-3116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.84.10.3112

Hassen A, Saidi N, Cherif M, Boudbous A. 1998. Resistance of environmental bacteria to heavy metals. Bioresource Technology 64(1), 7-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(97)00161-2

Kafilzadeh F, Mirzaee N. 2008. Growth pattern of Hg resistant bacteria isolated from Kor River in the presence of mercuric chloride. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 11(18), 224-2248. http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/pjbs.2008.2243.2248

MOOPAM. 1999. Manual of oceanographic and observations pollutant analysis methods. Third edition. The Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROMPE), Kuwait.

Morby AP, Hobman JL, Brown NL. 1995. The role of cysteine residues in the transport of mercuric ions by the Tn501 MerT and Merp mercury-resistance proteins. Molecular Microbiology 17(1), 25-35.

Morel FM, M, Kraepiel AML, Amyot M. 1998. The chemical cycle and bioaccumulation of mercury. Annual Reviews Ecology and Systematics. 29, 543-566. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.29.1.543

Nakahara H, Silver S, Miki T, Rownd RH. 1979. Hypersensitivity to Hg2+ and byperbinding activity associated with cloned fragments of the mercurial resistance operon of plasmid NR1. Journal of Bacteriology 140(1),161-166.

Nakano V, Avila-Campos MJ. 2004. Virulence markers and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteria of the Bacteroides fragilis group isolated from stool of children with diarrhea in São Paulo, Brazil. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 99 (3), 307-312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02762004000300012

Nies DH. 1999. Microbial heavy metal resistance. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 51(6), 730-750. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s002530051457

Rugh CL, Senecoff JF, Meagher RB, Merkle SA. 1998. Development of transgenic yellow poplar for mercury phytoremediation. Nature Biotechnology. 16(10), 925-928. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt1098-925

Schiering N, Kabsch W, Moore MJ, Distefano MD, Walsh CT, Pai EF. 1991. Structure of the detoxification catalyst mercuric ion reductase from Bacillus sp. strain RC607. Nature 352(6331), 168-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/352168a0

US.EPA. 1999. Mercury Update: Impact on Fish Advisories. Washington, DC. Office of Water.

Vetriani C, Chew YS, Miller SM, Yagi J, Coombs J, Lutz RA, Barkay T. 2005. Mercury adaptation among bacteria From a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71(1), 220-226. http://dx.doi.org10.1128/AEM.71.1.220-226.2005

Vieira RH, Volesky B. 2000. Biosorption: a solution to pollution: a review. International Microbiology 3, 17-24.

Wagner-Dobler I. 2003. Pilot plant for bioremediation of mercury-containing industrial wastewater. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 62(2-3), 124-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-003-1322-7

Zeng XX, Tagn JX, Jiang P, Liu HW, Dai ZM, Liu XD. 2009. Isolation, characterization and extraction of mer gene of mercury ion resisting strain D2. Transactions Nonferrous Metals Society of China 20(3), 507-512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1003-6326(09)60170-9

Zeyaullah M, Haque S, Nabi G, Nand KN, Ali A. 2010. Molecular cloning and expression of bacterial mercuric reductase gene. African Journal of Biotechnology 9(25), 3714-3718. http://dx.doi.org/10.5897/AJB09.937