Resistencia a metales pesados en bacterias aisladas de la bahía de Iquique

Abstract

Resistance to heavy metals in bacteria isolated from Iquique bay (20°10'S-70°08'W) was analyzed, selecting 43 strains for this study. Cultures were done in agar PCA enriched with CuSO4 (800 μg ml -1). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) to the following heavy metals: Pb, As, Ni, Cu, Hg, Zn, Cr and Cd were determined by plate diffusion. The susceptibility to several antibiotics was also established. All the strains under study were Gram negative, non-fermentative bacteria, mainly of the genus Pseudomonas and some of the genus Alcaligenes. Levels of resistance to the heavy metals were variable in different strains. Evidence of a possible relationship between the resistance to the heavy metals and the resistance to antibiotics was obtained.