The Metabolism of Arsenite

About this book

Up to 200 million people in 70 countries are at risk from drinking water contaminated with arsenic, which is a major cause of chronic debilitating illnesses and fatal cancers. Until recently little was known about the mobility of arsenic, and how redox transformations determined its movement into or out of water supplies. Although human activities contribute to the release of arsenic from minerals, it is now clear that bacteria are responsible for most of the redox transformation of arsenic in the environment. Bacterial oxidation of arsenite (to the less mobile arsenate) has been known since 1918, but it was not until 2000 that a bacterium was shown to gain energy from this process.

Since then a wide range of arsenite-oxidizing bacteria have been isolated, including aerobes and anaerobes; heterotrophs and autotrophs; thermophiles, mesophiles and psychrophiles. The Metabolism of Arsenite reviews recent advances in the study of such bacteria. After a section on background-geology and health issues the main body of the The Metabolism of Arsenite concerns the cellular machinery of arsenite oxidation. It concludes by examining possible applications. Topics treated are: The geology and cycling of arsenic Arsenic and disease Arsenite oxidation: physiology, enzymes, genes, and gene regulation. Community genomics and functioning, and the evolution of arsenite oxidation Microbial arsenite oxidation in bioremediation Biosensors for arsenic in drinking water and industrial effluents

Contents

Arsenic in the environment
D. Kossoff & K.A. Hudson-Edward
Introduction
Chemistry and mineralogy of arsenic 
Distribution of arsenic in the environment 
Processes of arsenic cycling in the environment

Giant Mine,Yellowknife, Canada: Arsenite waste as the legacy of gold mining and processing
M. Bromstad & H.E. Jamieson
Introduction 
Background 
Arsenic and arsenite in mine wastes and surrounding area 
Transformation and remobilization of arsenic species 
Site remediation 
Summary

Genotoxic and carcinogenic risk of arsenic exposure. Influence of interindividual genetic variability
R. Marcos & A. Hernández
Introduction 
Carcinogenic risk 
Genotoxic risk 
Genetic polymorphisms affecting carcinogenic risk 
Genetic polymorphisms affecting genotoxic risk 
Conclusions

Overview of microbial arsenic metabolism and resistance
J.F. Stolz
Introduction 
Arsenic resistance 
Arsenic in energy generation

Prokaryotic aerobic oxidation of arsenite
T.H. Osborne & J.M. Santini
Introduction 
Aerobic arsenite-oxidizing bacteria 
Arsenite metabolism 
Aerobic arsenite-oxidizing communities 
Summary and future directions

Anaerobic oxidation of arsenite by autotrophic bacteria: The view from Mono Lake, California
R.S. Oremland, J.F. Stolz & C.W. Saltikov
Introduction 
Nitrate-respiring arsenite-oxidizers 
An annotated arsenate reductase that runs in reverse 
Anoxygenic photosynthesis fueled by arsenite

Arsenite oxidase
M.D. Heath, B. Schoepp-Cothenet, T.H. Osborne & J.M. Santini
Introduction 
Characteristics of the arsenite oxidase

Microbial arsenic response and metabolism in the genomics era
P.N. Bertin, L. Geist, D. Halter, S. Koechler, M. Marchal & F. Arsène-Ploetze
Introduction 
Descriptive and comparative genomics 
High-throughput genomics reveal the functioning of microorganisms 
Conclusions

Arsenite oxidation – regulation of gene expression
M.Wojnowska & S. Djordjevic 
Introduction 
Multiple modes of arsenite oxidase regulation 
AioSR and their involvement in Aio regulation 
Quorum sensing 
Heat-shock protein DNAJ 
Conclusions

Evolution of arsenite oxidation
R. van Lis,W. Nitschke, S. Duval & B. Schoepp-Cothenet
Introduction 
Molecular description of arsenic bioenergetic enzymes 
Function of the enzymes 
Phylogenetic analysis of Aio and Arr 
Taking bioenergetics into account 
Evolutionary scenario of arsenite oxidation

Remediation using arsenite-oxidizing bacteria
F. Delavat, M.-C. Lett & D. Lièvremont
Introduction
Arsenite oxidation-based remediation bioprocesses 
Conclusion

Development of biosensors for the detection of arsenic in drinking water
C. French, K. de Mora, N. Joshi, J. Haseloff & J. Ajioka 
Introduction 
Biosensors for detection of environmental toxins 
Biosensors for arsenic 
Conclusions

Subject index

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