Identification of Bacillus megaterium and Microbacterium liquefaciens genes involved in metal resistance and metal removal

Bacillus megaterium MNSH1-9K-1 and Microbacterium liquefaciens MNSH2-PHGII-2, two nickel-vanadium resistant bacteria from mine tailings located in Guanajuato, Mexico, are shown to have the ability to remove 33.1% and 17.8% of Ni and 50.8% and 14.0% of V, respectively, from spent petrochemical catalysts containing 428 ± 30 mg kg-1 of Ni and 2165 ± 77 mg kg-1 of V. In these strains, several Ni resistance determinants were detected by conventional PCR. The nccA (Ni-Co-Cd resistance) was found for the first time in B. megaterium. In M. liquefaciens the above gene and, additionally czcD gene (Co-Zn-Cd resistance) and a high-affinity nickel transporter were detected for the first time. This study characterizes the resistance of M. liquefaciens and B. megaterium to nickel through the expression of genes conferring metal resistance.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author