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. 1985 Mar;49(3):686-92.
doi: 10.1128/aem.49.3.686-692.1985.

Preparation of a DNA gene probe for detection of mercury resistance genes in gram-negative bacterial communities

T Barkay, D L Fouts, B H Olson

Preparation of a DNA gene probe for detection of mercury resistance genes in gram-negative bacterial communities

T Barkay et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 Mar.

Abstract

A DNA gene probe was prepared to study genetic change mechanisms responsible for adaptation to mercury in natural bacterial communities. The probe was constructed from a 2.6-kilobase NcoI-EcoRI DNA restriction fragment which spans the majority of the mercury resistance operon (mer) in the R-factor R100. The range of specificity of this gene probe was defined by hybridization to the DNA of a wide variety of mercury-resistant bacteria previously shown to possess the mercuric reductase enzyme. All of the tested gram-negative bacteria had DNA sequences homologous to the mer probe, whereas no such homologies were detected in DNA of the gram-positive strains. Thus, the mer probe can be utilized to study gene flow processes in gram-negative bacterial communities.

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