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Rapid Impact of Phenanthrene and Arsenic on Bacterial Community Structure and Activities in Sand Batches

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

The impact of both organic and inorganic pollution on the structure of soil microbial communities is poorly documented. A short-time batch experiment (6 days) was conducted to study the impact of both types of pollutants on the taxonomic, metabolic and functional diversity of soil bacteria. For this purpose sand spiked with phenanthrene (500 mg kg−1 sand) or arsenic (arsenite 0.66 mM and arsenate 12.5 mM) was supplemented with artificial root exudates and was inoculated with bacteria originated from an aged PAH and heavy-metal-polluted soil. The bacterial community was characterised using bacterial strain isolation, TTGE fingerprinting and proteomics. Without pollutant, or with phenanthrene or arsenic, there were no significant differences in the abundance of bacteria and the communities were dominated by Pseudomonas and Paenibacillus genera. However, at the concentrations used, both phenanthrene or arsenic were toxic as shown by the decrease in mineralisation activities. Using community-level physiological profiles (Biolog Ecoplates™) or differential proteomics, we observed that the pollutants had an impact on the community physiology, in particular phenanthrene induced a general cellular stress response with changes in the central metabolism and membrane protein synthesis. Real-time PCR quantification of functional genes and transcripts revealed that arsenic induced the transcription of functional arsenic resistance and speciation genes (arsB, ACR3 and aioA), while no transcription of PAH-degradation genes (PAH-dioxygenase and catechol-dioxygenase) was detected with phenanthrene. Altogether, in our tested conditions, pollutants do not have a major effect on community abundance or taxonomic composition but rather have an impact on metabolic and functional bacterial properties.

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Acknowledgment

We gratefully acknowledge the ANR program (MULTIPOLSITE, ANR-2008-CESA-010) for financial support, the Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie (ADEME) and the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) for J. Poirel PhD grant funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIEC UMR7360, CNRS-Université de Lorraine, Faculté des Sciences et Technologies, BP 70239, 54506, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France

    A. Cébron, P. Billard, J. Poirel & C. Leyval

  2. LIEC UMR7360, CNRS-Université de Lorraine, Campus Bridoux, rue du Général Delestraint, 57070, Metz, France

    P. Bauda & S. Devin

  3. GMGM, Département Microorganismes, Génomes, Environnement, CNRS UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg, 28 rue Goethe, 67083, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    F. Arsène-Ploetze, P. N. Bertin & F. Goulhen-Chollet

  4. Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-organique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, UMR7178 Université de Strasbourg/CNRS, 25 rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    C. Carapito

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  1. A. Cébron
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Cébron, A., Arsène-Ploetze, F., Bauda, P. et al. Rapid Impact of Phenanthrene and Arsenic on Bacterial Community Structure and Activities in Sand Batches. Microb Ecol 67, 129–144 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0313-1

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