Heavy metal tolerating bacterial isolates- AD1, AD2, AD3, AD4, AD5, AD6 and AD7 were isolated from garden soil, industrial waste water and textile effluent samples from the local area of Kalyan, Dist Thane, MS. The isolates were observed to tolerate high levels of mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead and were seen to be resistant to a wide range of antibiotics. Plasmid isolation was carried out using Alkaline lysis method. The size of the isolated plasmid DNA was approximately 15-26 kb. Plasmid curing was carried out by Ethidium Bromide and 2 % Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate. Lead, cadmium and arsenic resistance gene was found to be present on the chromosomal DNA rather than the plasmid DNA whereas, mercury genes were found to be present on the plasmid. Curing result showed the loss of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance property from the isolated strain and confirms a relationship between antibiotic and heavy metal resistance with plasmid. The whole cell protein samples from the isolates treated with different concentrations of lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury were isolated, electrophoresed on SDS-PAGE and the protein profile was studied. A significant change in the banding pattern was observed.
