SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1983
STP33521S

Effect of Cadmium on Lake Water Bacteria as Determined by the Luciferase Assay of Adenosine Triphosphate

Source

A firefly luciferase assay of bacterial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was developed to measure the toxic effects of cadmium ions on aquatic organisms. Toxicity was monitored using intracellular (I/C) ATP (in micrograms per litre) as well as plate counts (colony-forming units per millilitre). The bacteria, which belonged mainly to the families Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, exhibited varying degrees of resistance to up to 100 ppm cadmium when grown in a glucose-salts medium at pH 6.8. Among the organisms tested, cadmium resistance decreased in the following order: Pseudomonas vesicularis > P. aeruginosa > Enterobacter sp. > P. fluorescens > Chromobacter sp. > Serratia sp. A rise in the pH of the growth medium from 5 to 7 resulted in increased toxicity of cadmium.

Author Information

Seyfried, PL
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada
Horgan, CBL
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada
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Details
Developed by Committee: E47
Pages: 425–441
DOI: 10.1520/STP33521S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4868-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0255-2