BIODIVERSITY OF PLASMIDS IN MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN ARGENTINA NORTH WEST HIGH ALTITUD WETLANDS

DIB, JULIÁN RAFAEL; MARTÍNEZ, MARÍA ALEJANDRA; FARÍAS, MARÍA EUGENIA

Pinamar, Buenos Aires

Congreso; SAIB; 2005

The high altitude lakes of the Puna of the NOA present extreme environmental characteristic such as: wide range of variation of temperature daily, high salinity with seasonal periods of drying, high concentration of heavy metals, alkalinity, high exhibition to RUV, low temperature, etc. These conditions would be favorable for the selection of organisms and special genetic systems. We isolated 13 bacteria from Laguna Azul (4544msnm Salar de Laguna Verde, Catamarca) and Laguna Vilama (4598 msnm Abra Pampa, Jujuy). All bacteria are resistance to RUV, the percentage of survivors varies between 30 and 90%. The majority of bacteria present multiple plasmids which are related to multiple antibiotic resistances. It is very interesting the fact that most of the present bacteria in these places have got resistance to azitromicina., a wide spectrum antibiotic of third generation. It surprises the presence of this resistance in pristine atmospheres. Those vectors that present characteristic of interest will be cloned and sequenced for their complete characterization.