Arsenic and Old Photosynthesis

Kulp, T.R., Hoeft, S.E., Madigan, M., Hollibaugh, J.T., Fischer, J., Stolz, J.F.,Culbertson, C.W., Miller, L.G., and Oremland, R.S. 2008. Arsenic(III) fuels anoxygenic photosynthesis in hot spring biofilms from Mono Lake, California. Science 321:967-970.

Phylogenetic analysis indicates that microbial arsenic metabolism is ancient and probably extends back to the primordial Earth. In microbial biofilms growing on the rock surfaces of anoxic brine pools fed by hot springs containing arsenite and sulfide at high concentrations we discovered light-dependent oxidation of arsenite [As(III)] to arsenate [As(V)] occurring under anoxic conditions. The communities were composed primarily of Ectothiorhodospira-like purple bacteria or Oscillatoria-like cyanobacteria. A pure culture of a photosynthetic bacterium grew as a photoautotroph using As(III) as sole photosynthetic electron donor. The strain contained genes encoding a putative As(V)-reductase but no detectable homologs of the As(III)-oxidase genes of aerobic chemolithotrophs, suggesting a reverse functionality for the reductase. Production of As(V) by anoxygenic photosynthesis probably opened niches for primordial Earth’s first As(V)-respiring prokaryotes.

Roxarsone study makes cover of Environmental Science and Technology. News stories in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Baltimore Sun.

Stolz, J.F., Perera, E., Kilonzo, B., Kail, B., Crable, B., Fisher, E., Ranganathan, M., Wormer, L., and Basu, P. 2007. Biotransformation of 3-nitro-4-hydroxybenzene arsonic acid and release of inorganic arsenic by Clostridium species. Environ. Sci. Tech. 41:818-823.

The study demonstrated the rapid biotransformation of roxarsone under anaerobic conditions by Clostridium species in chicken litter enrichments and a pure culture of a fresh water arsenate respiring species (Clostridium sp. strain OhILAs). The main products were 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzene arsonic acid and inorganic arsenic. Growth experiments and genomic analysis indicated that strain OhILAs might use roxarsone as a terminal electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration. The results suggest that the organic-rich manure and anaerobic conditions typically associated with composting provide the conditions necessary for the native microbial populations to transform the roxarsone in the litter releasing the more toxic inorganic arsenic.

CURRENT FUNDING

NIEHS funds collaborative work on the effect of As(III) on the murine microbial community. New for 2009!

NASA funds continued collaborative work on arsenic cycling in Mono Lake, CA. New for 2009!

NSF-GEG: Biogeochemical controls on the dynamics of  organoarsenic transformation (with M Schreiber VPI)

DOE-ERSP: Nitrate Enhanced Cr(VI) Reduction

For more details see Research or go to RIBS website.


ARSENIC Website

 

A webpage dedicated to arsenic, with updates on the research and links to other pages related to arsenic is under construction.

For more details see Research or go to Arsenic webpage.


NEW PUBLICATIONS

Franks, J. and Stolz, J.F., 2009. Flat Laminated Microbial Mat Communities. Earth Science Reviews v. 96, p. 163-172

Oremland, R.S., Saltikov, C.W., Wolfe-Simon, F., and Stolz, J.F. 2009. Arsenic in the evolution of Earth and extraterrestrial ecosystems. Geomicrobiol. J. 26:1-15

Richey, C., Chovanec, P., Hoeft, S.E., Oremland, R.S., Basu, P., and Stolz, J.F. 2009 Respiratory Arsenate Reductase as a Bidirectional Enzyme. 382:298-302

Baesman, S., Stolz, J.F., and Oremland, R.S. 2009. Enrichment and isolation of Bacillus beveridgei sp. nov., a facultative anaerobic haloalkaliphile from Mono Lake California that respires oxyanions of tellurium, selenium, and arsenic. Extremophile 13:695-705

Stolz, J.F., Reid,R.P., Visscher, P.T., Decho, A.W., Norman, S., Franks, J., Przekop, K., Bowlin, E.M, Foster, J., Aspden, R.J., Paterson, D.M., Underwood, G.J.C., Dupraz, C.,Prufert- Bebout, L.,  2009. The microbial mat communities of modern marine stromatolites at Highborne Cay, Bahamas. Atoll Research Bulletin, v. 567, p. 1-29.
Franks, J., Aspden, R.J., Underwood, G.J.C., Paterson, D.M., Reid, R.P., Stolz, J.F. 2009. Ooid accreting diatom communites from the modern marine stromatolites at Highborne Cay, Bahamas. In Seckbach, J., Oren, A., “Microbial Mats”, Springer Publishing, New York

Kulp, T.R., Hoeft, S.E., Madigan, M., Hollibaugh, J.T., Fischer, J., Stolz, J.F.,Culbertson, C.W., Miller, L.G., and Oremland, R.S. 2008. Arsenic(III) fuels anoxygenic photosynthesis in hot spring biofilms from Mono Lake, California. Science 321:967-970

For more publications go to About me.