Abstract
A bacterium which is resistant to both mercury and cadmium, and also capable of utilizing phenol as a carbon and energy source, was isolated from the Kumho River sediments near Kangchang Bridge, Taegu, Korea. The isolate was labeled Pseudomonas sp. KM10 and characterized. The bacteria grew in 4 mM $CdCl_2$and in $70{\mu}M$ $HgCl_2$. The bacteria efficiently removed over 90% of 1 g/l phenol within 30 h. In the presence of 1.250 g/l phenol, the growth of the microorganism was slightly retarded and the microorganism could not tolerate 1.5 g/l phenol. Curing of plasmid from the bacteria was carried out to generate a plasmidless strain. Subsequent experiments localized the genes for phenol degradation in plasmid and the genes for mercury resistance and cadmium resistance on the chromosome. Dot hybridization and Southern hybridization under low stringent conditions were performed to identify the DNA homology. These results showed significant homologies between the some sequence of the chromosome of Pseudomonas sp. KM10 and merR of Shigella flexneri R 100, and between the some sequence of the chromosome of Pseudomonas sp. KM10 and cadA of Staphylococcus aureus pI258. The mechanism of cadmium resistance was efflux, similar to that of S. aureus pI258 cadA, and the mechanism of mercury resistance was volatilization, similar to that of S. flexneri R100 mer.