Characterization of copper-resistant bacterial community in rhizosphere of highly copper-contaminated soil

The characteristics of copper (Cu)-resistant bacterial communities in a rhizosphere and a non-rhizosphere of the ditch reed, Phragmites, in a highly Cu-contaminated area near a copper mine were investigated. The total Cu concentration was 720 μg•g–1 in the rhizosphere soil and 5 680 μg•g–1 in the non-rhizosphere soil. In the rhizosphere, the multiplication of bacteria, particularly non-resistant bacteria, was promoted as compared with the non-rhizosphere. The properties of the bacterial community in the rhizosphere were quite different from those in the non-rhizosphere in terms of Cu sorption ability, growth rate and exopolymer production. Both the Cu-resistant bacteria and non-resistant bacteria in the rhizosphere grew more rapidly in media than those in the non-rhizosphere. For almost all the isolated Cu-resistant bacteria, exopolymer production was prompted by Cu stimuli especially for the isolates from the rhizosphere. The adverse effect of Cu on the growth rate was found to be small for the Cu-resistant bacteria producing exopolymers in a large quantity, suggesting the involvement of exopolymers in the detoxification of Cu. The role of Cu resistance in the bacterial chemotactic migration in the Cu-contaminated soils was not evident.