skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Effect of cadmium on lake water bacteria as determined by the luciferase assay of adenosine triphosphate

Conference · · Am. Soc. Test. Mater., Spec. Tech. Publ.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6529538

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.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
OSTI ID:
6529538
Report Number(s):
CONF-8110103-
Journal Information:
Am. Soc. Test. Mater., Spec. Tech. Publ.; (United States), Vol. STP-802; Conference: American Society of Testing and Materials symposium on aquatic toxicology, St Louis, MO, USA, 15 Oct 1981
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English