T. Kunito et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF CU-RESISTANT BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES IN CU-CONTAMINATED SOILS, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 43(3), 1997, pp. 709-717
Bacterial communities in a spoil heap in a copper mine, a forest soil
with high Cu contamination, and an agricultural soil with low Cu conta
mination were characterized in terms of Gram-staining, plasmid frequen
cy, pigmentation, Cu-resistance system, and predominant Cu-resistant b
acterial species, Similarity existed in that the ratio of green coloni
es for sorbing Cu and Gram-negative bacteria increased with the increa
se of the Cu content of the medium regardless of the characteristics o
f the bacterial communities, It was found that the plasmid was not pre
sent in most of the Cu-resistant bacteria of the soils, Cu-resistant g
enera including Burkholderia, Alcaligenes, and Methylobacterium specie
s were isolated from the Cu contaminated soils using YG agar plates tr
eated with 2 mM Cu. Furthermore, the bacterium with the highest Cu res
istance (MIC = 5.5 mM Cu) was identified as a Gram-positive bacterium
Bacillus sp., though most of the Cu-resistant bacteria were Gram-negat
ive.