Metal tolerance and antibiotic resistance of Bacillus species isolated from sunchon bay sediments, South Korea

Abstract

Colony forming heterotrophic metal resistant bacteria was isolated from the sediments of Sunchon Bay, South Korea. All the isolates exhibit resistance to various heavy metals and also to wide spectrum of antibiotics. Based on the 16s rDNA sequencing the isolate were identified as Bacillus species and all the strains harbor a mega plasmid. Plasmid curing results in loss of antibiotic and heavy metals resistance in some of the isolates confirms a relationship between antibiotic and heavy metal resistance. © 2008 Asian Network for Scientific Information.