ABSTRACT
A number of organometals and organometalloids have been reported to affect the germination of seeds, usually adversely. The presence of tin compounds caused varying degrees of abnormal development. Organisms were characterized by microscopic observation, gram reaction, motility testing, and biochemical testing employing Analytab Products 20E test strips. Since a microbial population increases exponentially until limited by insufficient nutrients or accumulated waste products, the growth rate follows an exponential curve. Aliquots from the mixed cultures were streaked onto nutrient agar plates to obtain pure cultures, and the resulting isolates were characterized. Some of people preliminary light microscopic observations on tin-resistant organisms grown at 650 ppm tin suggested that they excluded dimethyltin dichloride by forming a thick mucous coat. A chelating agent bonding to tin blocks a coordination site that might otherwise bind to some sequestering agent. This might ease passage across the cell membrane and also movement within the cell.
