Concomitant Antibiotic and Mercury Resistance Among Gastrointestinal Microflora of Feral Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

Abstract

Twenty-nine bacterial isolates representing eight genera from the gastrointestinal tracts of feral brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchell) demonstrated multiple maximal antibiotic resistances and concomitant broad-spectrum mercury (Hg) resistance. Equivalent viable plate counts on tryptic soy agar supplemented with either 0 or 25μM HgCl(2) verified the ubiquity of mercury resistance in this microbial environment. Mercury levels in lake water samples measured 1.5ngL(-1); mercury concentrations in fish filets ranged from 81.8 to 1,080ngg(-1) and correlated with fish length. The presence of similar antibiotic and Hg resistance patterns in multiple genera of gastrointestinal microflora supports a growing body of research that multiple selective genes can be transferred horizontally in the presence of an unrelated individual selective pressure. We present data that bioaccumulation of non-point source Hg pollution could be a selective pressure to accumulate both antibiotic and Hg resistant bacteria.