Isolation, identification and PCR amplification of merA gene from highly mercury polluted Yamuna river

Abstract

Mercury resistant Escherichia coli strains have been isolated from different mercury polluted sites of India and their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) levels were determined. The zone of inhibition was measured to find the antibiotic sensitivity level. The location of mer operon was determined by
transforming the isolated plasmids into mercury sensitive host DH5a cells. Plasmid isolated from transformed DH5a cells were also analyzed and compared with the plasmid profile of the wild-type strains. Oligonucleotides primer were designed by comparing the known reported sequences of merA
from gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli R100) and 1695 bp of merA gene was amplified by PCR.