Occurrence of heavy metal-resistance in microflora from serpentine soil of Andaman

摘要: Serpentine soils collected from Saddle Hills, Chidyatapu and Rutland of Andaman Islands, India were analyzed for physico-chemical microbiological characteristics compared with those adjacent non-serpentine localities. The serpentine contained high levels nickel (1740.0-8033.4 mg/kg dry soil), cobalt (93.2-533.4 soil) chromium (302.9-4437.0 in addition to 62-152 g iron 37-60 magnesium per kg soil. Characteristically the showed low microbial density (6.2-11.3 x 10(6) colony forming unit/g activity (1.7-3.5 microg fluorescein/g soil/h) than outcrops. population was dominated by bacteria which represented 5.12 9.5 cfu/g soil, while fungal ranged 0.17 3.21 A total 342 (200 142 soils) isolates Ni, Co Cr resistance. microflora general, highly resistant ones a metal-resistance profile > Ni Co. Amongst isolates, 8 11 tolerated 12.0 mM 16.0 respectively, 6 minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value 8.0 These 25 strains also co-resistance Cu, Zn Mn but sensitive Hg Cd. selected bacterial ampicillin, penicillin G polymyxin B, whereas resistance amphotericin nystatin fusidic acid.