Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance of Coliform Bacteria Isolated from Mineral Water

약수에서 分離한 大腸菌群의 일부 중금속 및 抗生劑耐性에 관한 연구

The purposes of this study were to find out the heavy metal and antibiotic resistant coliform bacteria from mineral water and the resistant factors. For the experiment, mineral water samples were taken from A area and B area during the period from march to July, 1988. The results of the experiment were as follows 1. From mineral water, eleven resistant coliforms and one susceptible coliform were isolated. 2. All resistant isolates harbored diverse plasmids of ranged ca. 14-54kb. 3. Susceptible coliform harbored a only plasmid of ca. 2.8 kb. 4. All resistant isolates harbored common size of plasmid of ca. 14kb. 5. As a result of the transformation and agarose gel electrophoresis experiments, resistant factor was R-plasmid. In conclusion, It is suggested that heavy metal contamination of mineral water is the selective pressure for the plasmid encoding the tolerance. Heavy metal resistance, in some case, is present with antibiotic resistance. Therefore, heavy metal contamination of mineral water induces antibiotic resistant bacteria.