Cloning and expression of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans mercury ion resistance genes in Escherichia coli

A search of various domestic isolates of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans revealed that some were fairly resistant to mercury ion. A proportion of mercury-resistant clones were able to volatilize mercury, and their corresponding gene was localized not in the plasmid DNA but in chromosomal DNA. This mercury ion resistance gene was cloned in Escherichia coli. E. coli carrying the recombinant plasmid was able to grow in the presence of more than 40 μg of HgCl₂ per ml. Deletion analysis of the recombinant plasmid showed that the entire coding sequence of the mercury ion resistance gene was located within a 2.3-kilodase fragment of the chromosomal DNA from strain E-15. At least two polypeptides (molecular mass, 56 and 16 kDa, respectively) were coded by this fragment.