Abstract
Fifty-six mercury-resistant (Hg R) Bacillus strains were isolated from natural environments at various sites of the world. Southern hybridisation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that 21 of the 56 isolates have closely related or identical mer operons to that of Bacillus megaterium MB1. These 21 isolates displayed a broad-spectrum mercury resistance and volatilised Hg 0. PCR amplification with a single primer and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that these 21 isolates had Tn MERI1-like class II transposons. These transposons can be classified into Tn 5084, Tn 5085, or Tn MERI1. From these results, at least three types of class II mercury resistance transposons exist in Hg R Bacillus and these transposons may contribute the worldwide distribution and horizontal dissemination of the mer operons among Bacillus strains in natural environments.
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