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Characterization of arsenic resistant bacteria from arsenic rich groundwater of West Bengal, India

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Abstract

Sixty-four arsenic (As) resistant bacteria isolated from an arsenic rich groundwater sample of West Bengal were characterized to investigate their potential role in subsurface arsenic mobilization. Among the isolated strains predominance of genera Agrobacterium/Rhizobium, Ochrobactrum and Achromobacter which could grow chemolitrophically and utilize arsenic as electron donor were detected. Higher tolerance to As3+ [maximum tolerable concentration (MTC): ≥10 mM], As5+ (MTC: ≥100 mM) and other heavy metals like Cu2+, Cr2+, Ni2+ etc. (MTC: ≥10 mM), presence of arsenate reductase and siderophore was frequently observed among the isolates. Ability to produce arsenite oxidase and phosphatase enzyme was detected in 50 and 34 % of the isolates, respectively. Although no direct correlation among taxonomic identity of bacterial strains and their metabolic abilities as mentioned above was apparent, several isolates affiliated to genera Ochrobactrum, Achromobacter and unclassified Rhizobiaceae members were found to be highly resistant to As3+ and As5+ and positive for all the test properties. Arsenate reductase activity was found to be conferred by arsC gene, which in many strains was coupled with arsenite efflux gene arsB as well. Phylogenetic incongruence between the 16S rRNA and ars genes lineages indicated possible incidence of horizontal gene transfer for ars genes. Based on the results we propose that under the prevailing low nutrient condition inhabitant bacteria capable of using inorganic electron donors play a synergistic role wherein siderophores and phosphatase activities facilitate the release of sediment bound As5+, which is subsequently reduced by arsenate reductase resulting into the mobilization of As3+ in groundwater.

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Acknowledgments

Angana Sarkar acknowledges Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur for financial support. Pinaki Sar and Sufia K Kazy acknowledge support from Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (Rapid Grant for Young Investigator scheme). Generous help from Mr. Buddhadev Banerjee, Barasat, West Bengal in sample collection is gratefully acknowledged.

Ethical standards

The authors declare that all the experiments comply with the current laws of the India.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Angana Sarkar & Pinaki Sar

  2. Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, 713209, India

    Sufia K. Kazy

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  1. Angana Sarkar
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  2. Sufia K. Kazy
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  3. Pinaki Sar
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Correspondence to Pinaki Sar.

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Plot of PCA-scores on arsenic and others heavy metals resistances of arsenic resistant bacteria isolated from As-contaminated ground water. Each bacterial strain is represented by its ID number (DOC 49 kb)

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Sarkar, A., Kazy, S.K. & Sar, P. Characterization of arsenic resistant bacteria from arsenic rich groundwater of West Bengal, India. Ecotoxicology 22, 363–376 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-012-1031-z

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