1Dr. Mahalingam Center for Research and Development, N G M College, Pollachi-642 001, Coimbatore. Tamil Nadu, India.
2School of Marine Sciences, Department of Oceanography and Costal Area Studies, Alagappa University, Thondi Campus, Thondi-623 409, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Email: chandran.guna@gmail.com
Online published on 11 December, 2012.
This is one of the series of works explaining about the pollution in the marine environment due to which there arises a population of bacteria resistant to metals. The sediment samples were collected from Krishna-Godavari basin, (lat 13° 07′ N and 19° 20′ N and long 73° 22′ E) Bay of Bengal. Totally 53 different bacterial organisms were obtained from the sediment samples on the half and full strength nutrient agar media which were morphologically and phenotypically characterized by employing staining methods and all these were subjected to metal response tests with heavy metals in different concentrations. Of these isolates, 79.24% were found to be resistant to 350ppm of Mercury (11.53%), 250ppm of Cadmium (3.77%), 700ppm of Chromate (50.94%) and 250ppm of Zinc (13.20%). The resistance could have been due to the selective pressure exerted on the organisms by pollution of the marine atmosphere with heavy metals.
Marine Environment, Heavy Metals, Resistance, Morphological, Phenotypic
