Translocatable resistance to mercuric and phenylmercuric ions in soil bacteria

Abstract

Of a sample of 42 gram-negative Hg-resistant bacteria, three (a Pseudomonas fluorescens, a Klebsiella sp. and a Citrobacter sp.) contained translocatable elements conferring resistance to Hg²⁺ (all three) and to Hg²⁺ and phenylmercuric acetate (P. fluorescens). The discovery of transposable phenylmercuric acetate resistance extends the range of known resistance "transposons" from heavy metals and antibiotics to organometallic compounds.