ABSTRACT
Fourteen bacterial strains were isolated from metal contaminated sites close to the automobile and welding workshops. These strains were checked for tolerance against heavy metals both in enriched media and minimal media. All the strains showed tolerance against heavy metals but most promising results were given by strain GESQA002 which showed multiple stress tolerance as its maximum tolerable concentration [MTC] against cadmium chloride [CdCI2] was 6mM in enriched media and 1.4mM in minimal media, against copper sulphate [CuSO4] was 3.5mM in enriched media and 1.8mM in minimal media, and against nickel chloride [NiCI2] it was 1mM in enriched media and 0.8mM in minimal media was observed. GESQA002 was also tested against antibiotics kanamycin [Km], and streptomycin [Sm] and it showed elevated MTCs against Sm [100 microg/ml] and Km [25 microg/ml]. Plasmids were detected in GESQA002 which could be a ssign of stress tolerance genes being plasmid borne