Skip to main content

Mercury Resistance in Bacterial Strains Isolated from Tailing Ponds in a Gold Mining Area Near El Callao (Bolívar State, Venezuela)

Current Microbiology volume 54, pages 149–154 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Bacterial resistance to mercury (Hg) was investigated in strains isolated from Hg-contaminated tailing ponds located in the gold mining area of El Callao (Bolívar State, Venezuela). High frequencies of resistance were detected to both inorganic-Hg and organomercurials among these strains. A broad range of resistance levels was observed when determining minimal inhibitory concentrations of Hg2+. Some strains were able to grow in liquid medium containing 25 μM Hg2+, whereas others grew at 300 μM Hg2+. Of 190 Hg-resistant strains tested, 58.2% were additionally shown to be resistant to ampicillin (40 mg/L), 33.3% to chloramphenicol (30 mg/L), 24.9% to streptomycin (30 mg/L), 23.3% to tetracycline (30 mg/L), and 1.6% to kanamycin (30 mg/L). Furthermore, we found that 20% of the Hg-resistant strains were simultaneously resistant to as many as four of these antibiotics, at the concentrations tested. The presence of large plasmids in 62.9% of 53 Hg-resistant strains screened prompted us to investigate the horizontal transfer of resistance determinants. Mating experiments were performed using Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as recipient strains. The results obtained confirmed that indigenous Hg-resistant bacteria colonizing the tailing ponds can effectively transfer the phenotype to potentially pathogenic species.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

Literature Cited

  1. Alvárez L, Rojas L, Fuentes N (2001) A study on the mercury contamination in human settlements located in the margins of the Gurí Lake (Bolívar State, Venezuela). Proceedings of the LI Annual Meeting of the Venezuelan Society for the Advancement of Science (ASOVAC), p. 91

  2. Bass L, Liebert CA, Lee MD, et al. (1999) Incidence and characterization of integrons, genetic elements mediating multiple-drug resistance, in avian Escherichia coli. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 43:2925–2929

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Barkay T, Turner R, Saouter E, et al. (1992) Mercury biotransformations and their potential for remediation of mercury contamination. Biodegradation 3:147–159

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Barkay T, Miller SM, Summers AO (2003) Bacterial mercury resistance: from atoms to ecosystems. FEMS Microbiol Rev 27:355–384

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Barkay T, Kroer N, Rasmussen LD, et al. (1995) Conjugal transfer at natural population densities in a microcosm simulating an estuarine environment. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 16:43–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bogdanova ES, Bass IA, Minakhin LS, et al. (1998) Horizontal spread of mer operons among Gram-positive bacteria in natural environments. Microbiology 144:609–620

    PubMed  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Durán F, Carrero P, Rondón C (2005) A new method to determine mercury species in water samples through cold vapor generation and atomic absorption spectroscopy detection. Proceedings of the VII Venezuelan Chemistry Congress, Faculty of Sciences. Universidad de Los Andes (Mérida, Venezuela). November 6–10, pp. 35–37

  8. Fujita M, Ike M, Suzuki H (1993) Screening of plasmids from wastewater bacteria. Water Res 27:949–953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Herrero N, Penna S, Suárez C, et al. (2004) A diagnosis on the environmental pollution near Santa María del Vapor (Bolívar State, Venezuela). Geominas 32:59–64

    Google Scholar 

  10. Jacoby GA, Sutton L, Knobel L (1983) Properties of IncP-2 plasmids of Pseudomonas spp. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 24:168–175

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kotchoni SO, Gachomo EW, Betiku E, et al. (2003) A home made kit for plasmid DNA mini-preparation. African J Biotechnol 2:86–87

    Google Scholar 

  12. Mindlin SZ, Bass IA, Bogdanova ES (2002) Horizontal transfer of mercury resistance genes in environmental bacterial populations. Mol Biol 36:216–227

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nakamura K, Nakahara H (1988) Simplified X-ray film method for detection of bacterial volatilization of mercury chloride by Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 54:2871–2873

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Palheta D, Taylor A (1995) Mercury in environmental and biological samples from a gold mining area in the Amazon region of Brazil. Sci Total Env 168:63–69

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Partridge SR, Brown HJ, Stokes HW (2001) Transposons Tn1696 and Tn21 and their integrons In4 and In2 have independent origins. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 45:1263–1270

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Pérez L (1996) Mercury levels in commercial fish specimens collected at the Gurí Lake (Bolívar State, Venezuela). Proceedings of the V Guayanese Seminar on Environmental Conservation, p. 22

  17. Rojas M, Drake PL, Roberts SM (2001) Assessing mercury health effects in gold workers near El Callao, Venezuela. JOEM 43:158–165

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Schaefer JK, Yagi J, Reinfelder JR, et al. (2004) Role of the bacterial organomercury lyase (MerB) in controlling methylmercury accumulation in mercury-contaminated natural waters. Environ Sci Technol 15:4304–4311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Shresta KP, Ruiz de Quilarque X (1989) A preliminary study of mercury contamination in the surface soil and river sediment of the Roscio District, Bolívar State, Venezuela. Sci Total Environ 79:233–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Silva M, Arriojas S, Chadi N, et al. (2004) A study on epidemiological and clinical factors in persons exposed to mercury in two human settlements in the Lower Caroni River (Bolívar State, Venezuela) (2000–2001). Geominas 32:19–22

    Google Scholar 

  21. UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) (2004) Mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining in block B, El Callao, Bolivar State, Venezuela: health and technological assessment (project XP/VEN/03/04)

  22. Air Quality Guidelines for Europe. Second edition. WHO Regional Publications, European Series, No. 91. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2000, pp. 7–10

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Ing. Elis Yegres and Lic. David Rondón (CVG-Minerven), as well as Ing. Máximo Benavides and María T. García (UNEXPO, Pto. Ordaz), for helping us during the collection of the samples. We are grateful to Luis Gutierrez (Lab. Espectroscopía Molecular, ULA) for the determination of soluble Hg by AAS and to Dr. Leonardo Serrano (Stanford University) for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by Consejo de Desarrollo Científico, Humanístico y Tecnológico, CDCHT-ULA.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela

    María Mercedes Ball, David Castro & Luis Andrés Yarzábal

  2. Laboratorio de Espectroscopía Molecular, Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Núcleo de La Hechicera, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela

    Pablo Carrero

Authors
  1. María Mercedes Ball
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pablo Carrero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Castro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Luis Andrés Yarzábal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis Andrés Yarzábal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ball, M.M., Carrero, P., Castro, D. et al. Mercury Resistance in Bacterial Strains Isolated from Tailing Ponds in a Gold Mining Area Near El Callao (Bolívar State, Venezuela). Curr Microbiol 54, 149–154 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-006-0347-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-006-0347-4

Keywords

  • HgCl2
  • Venezuela
  • Resistance Determinant
  • Mating Experiment
  • Recipient Strain