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Bacterial heavy metal‐tolerance — extreme resistance to nickel in Arthrobacter spp. strains
Author(s) -
Margesin Rosa,
Schinner Franz
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of basic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1521-4028
pISSN - 0233-111X
DOI - 10.1002/jobm.3620360410
Subject(s) - nickel , bacteria , arthrobacter , nichrome , metal , chromate conversion coating , chromium , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biology , genetics , organic chemistry
The heavy metal‐resistant bacterial community of strongly polluted industrial areas was investigated. The bacterial tolerance levels to nickel, chromium and copper depended greatly on the pollution degree of sampling sites. Thirty‐six selected strains were tested on their multiple heavy metal resistance, most strains were resistant to high concentrations of nickel as well as of chromate. Remarkably, 4 plasmid‐containing strains with an extreme resistance to nickel (up to 20 mM) were Gram‐positive and identified as Arthrobacter spp. Nickel resistance is an induced mechanism in 3 strains and is constitutively expressed in one of the 4 strains; nickel resistance is influenced by temperature. This is the first description of extreme nickel resistance in Grampositive bacteria.