Barkay T, Olson B H
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1986 Aug;52(2):403-6. doi: 10.1128/aem.52.2.403-406.1986.
The effects of mercury contamination of lake sediments on the phenotypic and genotypic mercury resistance of the indigenous heterotrophic aerobic bacterial communities were investigated. Strong positive correlations between mercury sediment concentration and the frequency of the gene coding for mercury volatilization (mer) (r = 0.96) or the phenotypic mercury resistance (r = 0.86) of the studied communities suggested that the inheritance via selection or genetic exchange of the mer gene had promoted bacterial adaptation to mercury. Failure to detect the mer gene in one mercury-contaminated sediment where phenotypic expression was low suggested that other mechanisms of resistance may partially determine the presence of mercury-resistant organisms in mercury-contaminated sediment or that the mercury in this particular sediment was very chemically limited in its availability to the microorganisms.
研究了湖泊沉积物汞污染对本地异养需氧细菌群落表型和基因型汞抗性的影响。汞沉积物浓度与所研究群落中编码汞挥发（mer）的基因频率（r = 0.96）或表型汞抗性（r = 0.86）之间存在强正相关，这表明通过mer基因的选择或基因交换进行的遗传传递促进了细菌对汞的适应。在一个汞污染沉积物中，尽管表型表达较低，但未检测到mer基因，这表明其他抗性机制可能部分决定了汞污染沉积物中抗汞生物的存在，或者该特定沉积物中的汞对微生物的可利用性在化学上非常有限。
