Accelerator analyses of tributyltin chloride associated with a tributyltin resistant marine microorganism

Environmental Impact of Tributyltin-Resistant Marine Bacteria in the Indigenous Microbial Population of Tributyltin-Polluted Surface Sediments

　We compared the TBT-resistant ability of resting cells prepared from isolates that formed colonies on nutrient agar plates containing 100 µM tributyltin (TBT) chloride, such as Photobacterium sp. TKY1, Halomonas sp. TKY2, and Photobacterium sp. NGY1, with those from taxonomically similar type strains. Photobacterium sp. TKY1 showed the highest ability among those three isolates. The number of surviving Photobacterium sp. TKY1 cells was hardly decreased after 1 h of exposure to 100 µM TBTCl, regardless of the number of resting cells in the range from 10^9.4 to 10^4.2 CFU mL^-1. In such an experimental condition, the maximum number of TBT molecules available to associate with a single cell was estimated to be approximately 6.0 x 10^11.8. Resting cells prepared from type strains Photobacterium ganghwense JCM 12487^T and P. halotolerans LMG 22194^T, which have 16S rDNA sequences highly homologous with those of Photobacterium sp. TKY1, showed sensitivity to TBT, indicating that TBT-resistant marine bacterial species are not closely related in spite of their taxonomic similarity. We also estimated the impact of TBT-resistant bacterial species to indigenous microbial populations of TBT-polluted surface sediments. The number of surviving TBT-sensitive Vibrio natriegens ATCC 14048^T cells, 10^6.2±0.3 CFU mL^-1, was reduced to 10^4.4±0.4 CFU mL^-1 when TBT-resistant Photobacterium sp. TKY1 cells, 10^9.1±0.2 CFU mL^-1, coexisted with 10^9.4±0.2 CFU mL^-1 of V. natriegens ATCC 14048^T cells in the presence of 100 µM TBTCl. These results indicate that the toxicity of TBT to TBT-sensitive marine bacterial populations might be enhanced when a TBT-resistant marine bacterial species inhabits TBT-polluted surface sediments.

Accelerator analysis of tributyltin adsorbed onto the surface of a tributyltin resistant marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. cell

Tributyltin (TBT) released into seawater from ship hulls is a stable marine pollutant and obviously remains in marine environments. We isolated a TBT resistant marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. TBT1 from sediment of a ship's ballast water. The isolate (10(9.3 +/- 0.2) colony-forming units mL(-1)) adsorbed TBT in proportion to the concentrations of TBTCl externally added up to 3 mM, where the number of TBT adsorbed by a single cell was estimated to be 10(8.2). The value was reduced to about one-fifth when the lysozyme-treated cells were used. The surface of ethanol treated cells became rough, but the capacity of TBT adsorption was the same as that for native cells. These results indicate that the function of the cell surface, rather than that structure, plays an important role to the adsorption of TBT. The adsorption state of TBT seems to be multi-layer when the number of more than 10(6.8) TBT molecules is adsorbed by a single cell.

Adsorption of tributyltin by tributyltin resistant marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. cells

The isolate, Pesudoalteromonas sp. TBT1, could grow to overcome the toxicity of tributyltin chloride (TBTCl) up to 30 microM in the absence of Cl(-) in the medium until the cells reached an exponential phase of growth. The viability, however, was reduced after the cells reached a stationary phase. The degradation products, such as dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT), were not detected in the growth medium, indicating that the isolate has no ability to degrade TBT into less toxic DBT and MBT. Up to about 10(7.5) TBT molecules were adsorbed by a single cell. The observation of morphological changes with an electron microscope showed that the cell surface became wrinkled after exposure to the lethal concentration of 10 mM TBTCl. These results indicate that the resistance of the isolate toward the toxicity of TBTCl is not related to the unique cell surface, which seems to play an important role in preventing the diffusion of TBTCl into the cytoplasm.