A survey of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) resistance and alkylsulphatase production in bacteria from clean and polluted river sites

A survey of riverine bacteria showed that the ability to grow in the presence of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) was widespread but the proportion of SDS-resistant isolates was significantly greater at a polluted site, as compared with clean source water. Bacteria containing the alkylsulphatases that initiate SDS degradation were also widespread. The polluted site yielded significantly more alkylsulphatase-containing strains than the clean site, and this difference was due to a greater number of strains at the polluted site bearing constitute rather than inducible enzymes. In addition, the incidence of strains containing multiple alkylsulphatase was much higher at the polluted than at the clean site.