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Cadmium-mediated resistance to metals and antibiotics in a cyanobacterium

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Summary

Cadmium-resistant strains of the cyanobacterium Nostoc calcicola were isolated through the step-wise transfer of the organism to higher levels of the metal. One of the Cd-resistant strains (Cdr−10) showed cross-resistance to antibiotics like neomycin (1 μg/ml), chloramphenicol (3 μg/ml) but not to streptomycin. The Cd-resistant strain also tolerated elevated levels of metals such as zinc (20 ppm) and mercury (1 ppm). The stability of the metal-resistance required the presence of Cd2+ ions in the growth medium. It is suggested that metal resistance may also be determined by gene(s) on the antibiotic resistance plasmids in cyanobacteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

    S. P. Singh & Anil K. Pandey

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  1. S. P. Singh
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  2. Anil K. Pandey
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Communicated by H. Böhme

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Singh, S.P., Pandey, A.K. Cadmium-mediated resistance to metals and antibiotics in a cyanobacterium. Molec Gen Genet 187, 240–243 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00331124

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00331124

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