HEAVY METAL TOLERANCE IN CEROMOGENIC AND NON-CHROMOGENTIC MARINE BACTERIA FROM ARABIAN GULF

摘要

A simple method - direct agar diffusion assay - was optimised for rapid assessment of heavy metal toxicity to marine chromogenic and non-chromogenic bacteria. The procedrue involved spotting of a 10 microliter test solution on the seeded agar plate and incubation of the plates at 30 deg C to accelerate bacterial growth. Under optimum conditions, test results were obtainable within 12-18 hr instead of 96 hr incubation time generlaly requried for a marine bacterial assay by conventional agar plate methods. A range of sixteen heavy metals, each at 5 different concentrations was tested.