| Summary: | It is shown for the first time, that in Antarctic Region (island Galindez of the Argentine archi- pelago) are occurred the microorganisms which are resistant to high concentrations of toxic heavy metals. The microorganisms which grow under aerobic conditions in the presence of 200–500 ppm Hg2+, 1000–3000 ppm Cu2+, and 3000–60000 ppm CrO2− 4 are isolated. Mi- croorganisms are characterized by a polyresistance to metals (Hg2+, Cu2+ and CrO2− 4 ). They grow in the presence of these three metals separately and in their mixture. On adding glucose to a nutrient medium (20 g/l), microorganisms reduce CrO2− 4 up to insoluble Cr(OH) . 3nH2O. The absence of correlation between the resistance of microorganisms to high concentrations of metals and the concentration of these metals in the Antarctic soils is shown. The number of soil microorganisms, which are resistant to 1000 ppm Cu2+, was 106 . . . 108 cells/g of soil, and the concentration of copper in soils was in a range 13 . . . 172 ppm. Probably, the isolated mi- croorganisms are “retro-forms”, and their resistance to high concentrations of toxic metals was formed during an epoch of neotectonic activities in the Antarctic Region.
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