Bacteria survive metal stress by several mechanisms and metal binding is one such mechanism which has been screened in the present study to investigate the survival strategies of metal resistant bacteria. The production of siderophores, a metal chelating agent, was detected by chrome azurol S agar assay. The changes in cell wall studied by analysing the peptidoglycan and teichoic acid content indicated an increase in the cell wall content. Evaluation of morphological and physiological alterations like cell size, granularity analysed by SEM and flow cytometry analysis revealed an increase in cell size and granularity respectively. The transformation of phosphates monitored by 31P NMR analysis indicated the presence of inorganic phosphate. Based on the cell wall changes and the 31P NMR analysis, the surface charge of the organism was studied by zeta potential which displayed a difference at pH7. © 2020 The Society for Applied Microbiology