Arsenic and Tetracycline Resistant Microbial Diversity in High Arsenic Concentration Sediments

Abstract

The Upper Tenmile Creek, which gives Helena most of its public water supply, is contaminated by historic mining activity. This mining adit drains into the creek creating elevated arsenic concentrations in the stream. These elevated arsenic levels can cause co-selection for arsenic and antibiotic resistance in microbial communities. The presence of these resistance genes was assessed through PCR near the Susie Lode and Lee Mountain mines in the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund Site. Then isolated strains of bacteria were grown on selective media and their 16S genes were assessed to find the identity of each bacterial colony. There was detection of the tetW gene and amplification of the 16S gene, however none of the sequences were of sufficient quality to confirm the identity of bacteria growing on the selective media.