Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Arsenite tolerance and biotransformation potential in estuarine bacteria

  • Published:
Ecotoxicology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bacterial isolates from water and sediment samples from freshwater, estuarine and marine regions were tested for their growth in the presence of different concentrations of arsenic. Despite the generation times being longer in case of all bacterial isolates tested in nutrient broth with 200 ppm Arsenite (As3+), many of them were able to attain log phase and substantial growth variously between 36 and 96 h. The isolates tolerating ≥200 ppm arsenic (As) were found to belong to Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Corynebaterium, Xanthomonas, Acinetobacter, Flavimonas and Micrococcus. Some of these environmental strains tolerant to 1,000 ppm arsenic were tested to realize their potential to detoxify arsenic. The rate of As biotransformation was faster by many of these strains. The percent of arsenite biotransformed/removed from the growth medium was the highest by a strain of Enterobacteriaceae (as much as 92% of the As in the growth medium by 120 h) followed by that of Corynebaterium and Acinetobacter strains. From these observations it is clear that many environmental strains are capable of quite rapid biotransformation of As. Contamination of drinking water by toxic metalloid arsenic affects thousands of people worldwide. Many environmental isolates of bacteria which detoxify this metalloid would serve beneficial in the depuration processes. We suggest that only such strains capable of high tolerance to toxic arsenite, would biotransform As in polluted estuarine environments and would prove useful in As bioremediation applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmann D, Roberts AL, Krumholz LR, Morel FMM (1994) Microbe grows by reducing arsenic. Nature 371:750

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson LCD, Bruland KW (1991) Biogeochemistry of arsenic in natural waters: the importance of methylated species. Environ Sci Technol 25:420–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Canovas D, Cases I, Lorenzo de V (2003) Heavy metal tolerance and metal homeostasis in Pseudomonas putida as revealed by complete genome analysis. Environ Microbiol 5(12):1242–1256

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Casiot C, Morin G, Juillot F, Bruneel O, Personne J-C, Leblanc M, Duquesne K, Bonnefoy V, Elbaz-Poulichet F (2003) Bacterial immobilization and oxidation of arsenic in acid mine drainage (Carnoules creek France). Water Res 37:2929–2936

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen TH, Gross JA, Karasov WH (2009) Chronic exposure to pentavalent arsenic of larval leopard frogs (Rana pipiens): bioaccumulation and reduced swimming performance. Ecotoxicology PubMed ID 19396542

  • De J, Ramaiah N (2006) Occurrence of large fractions of mercury-resistant bacteria in the Bay of Bengal. Curr Sci 91(3):368–372

    Google Scholar 

  • De J, Sarkar A, Ramaiah N (2006) Bioremediation of toxic substances by mercury resistant marine bacteria. Ecotoxicology 15(4):385–389

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De J, Ramaiah N, Bhosle NB, Garg A, Vardanyan L, Nagle VL, Fukami K (2007) Potential of mercury-resistant marine bacteria for detoxification of chemicals of environmental concern. Microbes Environ 22(4):336–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De J, Ramaiah N, Vardanyan L (2008) Detoxification of toxic heavy metals by marine bacteria highly resistant to mercury. Marine Biotechnol 10(4):471–477

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Erhlich HL (1997) Microbes and metals. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 48:687–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gihring TM, Druschel GK, Mccleskey RB, Hamers RJ, Banfield JF (2001) Rapid arsenite oxidation by Thermus aquaticus and Thermus thermophilus: field and laboratory investigations. Environ Sci Technol 35:3857–3862

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holt JG, Krieg NR, Sneath PHA, Staley JT, Williams ST (2000) Bergy’s manual of determinative bacteriology, 9th edn. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Katsoyiannis I, Zouboulis A (2004) Application of biological processes for the removal of arsenic from groundwaters. Water Res 38:17–26

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koroleff F (1976) Determination of arsenic. In: Grasshoff K (ed) Methods of seawater analysis. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, New York, pp 158–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Langner HW, Jackson CR, Mcdermott TR, Inskeep WP (2001) Rapid oxidation of arsenite in a hot spring ecosystem, Yellowstone National Park. Environ Sci Technol 35:3302–3309

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J-U, Lee S-W, Kim K-W, Yoon C-H (2005) The effects of different carbon sources on microbial mediation of arsenic in arsenic-contaminated sediment. Environ Geochem Health 27:159–168

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Li Y, Zhang B, Cao J, Cao Z, Domagalski J (2009) Ecological risk of heavy metals in sediments of the Luan River source water. Ecotoxicology PubMed ID 19499329

  • Macy JM, Santini JM, Pauling BV, O’Neill AH, Sly LI (2000) Two new arsenate/sulfate-reducing bacteria: mechanisms of arsenate reduction. Arch Microbiol 173:49–57

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maher W, Barwick M (2003) Biotransference and biomagnification of selenium copper, cadmium, zinc, arsenic and lead in a temperate seagrass ecosystem from Lake Macquarie Estuary, NSW, Australia. Mar Environ Res 56:471–502

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mukhopadhyay R, Rosen BP, Phung LT, Silver S (2002) Microbial arsenic: from geocycles to genes and enzymes. FEMS Microbiol Rev 26:311–325

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nair M, Joseph T, Balachandran KK, Nair KKC, Paimpillii JS (2003) Arsenic enrichment in estuarine sediments-impact of iron and manganese mining. Fate of arsenic in the environment. In: Ahmed MF, Ali MA, Adeel Z (eds) International symposium on fate of arsenic in the environment, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Feb 2003. International Training Network (ITN), Bangladesh, pp 57–67

  • Neff JM (1997) Ecotoxicology of arsenic in the marine environment (review). Environ Toxicol Chem 16:917–927

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Newman DK, Ahmann D, Morel FMM (1998) A brief review of microbial arsenate respiration. Geomicrobiol J 15:225–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nickson R, McArthur J, Burgess W, Ahmed KM, Ravenscroft P, Rahman M (1998) Arsenic poisoning of Bangladesh groundwater. Nature 395:338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nies DH (1999) Microbial heavy metal resistance. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 51:730–750

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oremland RS, Stolz JF (2003) The ecology of arsenic. Science 300:939–944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oremland RS, Stolz JF, Hollibaugh JT (2004) The microbial arsenic cycle in Mono Lake, California. FEMS Microbiol Eco 48:15–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne FH, Ehrlich HE (1976) Oxidation of arsenite by a soil isolate of Alcaligenes. J Appl Bacteriol 41:295–305

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pacyna JM, Pacyna EG (2001) An assessment of global and regional emissions of trace metals to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources worldwide. Environ Rev 9:269–298

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips SE, Taylor ML (1976) Oxidation of arsenite to arsenate by Alcaligenes faecalis. Appl Environ Microbiol 32:392–399

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramaiah N, De J (2003) Unusual rise in mercury-resistant bacteria in coastal environments. Microbial Ecol 45:444–454

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen BP (2002) Biochemistry of arsenic detoxification. FEBS Lett 529:86–92

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders JG, Windom HL (1980) The uptake and reduction of arsenic species by marine algae. Est Coast Mar Sci 10:555–567

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sawkar K, Pvethamony Babu MT, Dias C, Mesquita A, Fernandes B, Moses S, Padmavati M, Naik S (2003) Measuring, modeling and grading the health of water bodies. Coastal tourism, environment, and sustainable local development. pp 179–210

  • Silver S, Phung LT (1996) Bacterial heavy metal resistance: new surprise. Annu Rev Microbiol 50:753–789

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silver S, Phung LT, Rosen BP (2002) Arsenic metabolism: resistance, reduction and oxidation. In: Frankenberger WT Jr (ed) Environmental chemistry of arsenic. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 247–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers AO, Silver S (1978) Microbial transformations of metals. Annu Rev Microbiol 32:637–672

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner AW (1949) Bacterial oxidation of arsenite. Nature 164:76–77

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weeger W, Lievremont D, Perret M, Lagarde F, Hubert JC, Leroy M, Lett MC (1999) Oxidation of arsenite to arsenate by a bacterium isolated from an aquatic environment. Biometals 12:141–149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams JW, Silver S (1984) Bacterial resistance and detoxification of heavy metals. Enz Microb Technol 6:530–537

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woolson EA, Axley JH, Kearney PC (1973) The chemistry and phytotoxicity of arsenic in soils: II. Effects of time and phosphorus. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 37:254–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr S. R. Shetye, Director NIO and, Dr A. C. Anil, Project Leader for Ballast water Control and Management Programme for facilities and encouragement. The Senior Research Fellowship to GSN by the CSIR, New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged. This is NIO contribution number. 4626.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dona Paula, Goa, 403004, India

    Geeta S. Nagvenkar & N. Ramaiah

Authors
  1. Geeta S. Nagvenkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. N. Ramaiah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. Ramaiah.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nagvenkar, G.S., Ramaiah, N. Arsenite tolerance and biotransformation potential in estuarine bacteria. Ecotoxicology 19, 604–613 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-009-0429-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-009-0429-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation