• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 1989

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.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1685-1689
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• 2009

Phytochelatins (PCs) are small polypeptides synthesized by PC synthase (PCS). They are present in various living organisms including plants, fission yeast, and some animals. The presumed function of PCs is the sequestration of cytosolic toxic heavy metals like cadmium (Cd) into the vacuoles via vacuolar membrane localized heavy metal tolerance factor 1 (HMT-1). HMT-1 was first identified in fission yeast (SpHMT-1), and later in Caenorhabdtis (CeHMT-1). Recently, its homolog has also been found in PC-deficient Drosophila (DmHMT-1), and this homolog has been shown to be involved in Cd detoxification, as confirmed by the heterologous expression of DmHMT-1 in fission yeast. Therefore, the dependence of HMT-1 on PC in Cd detoxification should be re-evaluated. I heterologously expressed SpHMT-1 in cytosolic PC-deficient yeast, Saccharomycea cerevisiae, to understand the dependence of HMT-1 on PC. Yeast cells expressing SpHMT-1 showed increased tolerance to Cd compared with control cells. This result indicates that SpHMT-1 is not strictly correlated with PC production on its function. Moreover, yeast cells expressing SpHMT-1 showed increased tolerance to exogenously applied glutathione (GSH) compared with control cells, and the tolerance to Cd was further increased by exogenously applied GSH, while tolerance in control cells was not. These results indicate that the function of SpHMT-1 in Cd detoxification does not depend on PCs only, and suggest that SpHMT-1 may sequester cytosolic GSH-Cd complexes into the vacuole.