Active Transport and Accumulation of Iodide by Newly Isolated Marine Bacteria

Abstract

Iodide (I(-))-accumulating bacteria were isolated from marine sediment by an autoradiographic method with radioactive (125)I(-). When they were grown in a liquid medium containing 0.1 microM iodide, 79 to 89% of the iodide was removed from the medium, and a corresponding amount of iodide was detected in the cells. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that iodide-accumulating bacteria were closely related to Flexibacter aggregans NBRC15975 and Arenibacter troitsensis, members of the family Flavobacteriaceae. When one of the strains, strain C-21, was cultured with 0.1 microM iodide, the maximum iodide content and the maximum concentration factor for iodide were 220 +/- 3.6 (mean +/- standard deviation) pmol of iodide per mg of dry cells and 5.5 x 10(3), respectively. In the presence of much higher concentrations of iodide (1 microM to 1 mM), increased iodide content but decreased concentration factor for iodide were observed. An iodide transport assay was carried out to monitor the uptake and accumulation of iodide in washed cell suspensions of iodide-accumulating bacteria. The uptake of iodide was observed only in the presence of glucose and showed substrate saturation kinetics, with an apparent affinity constant for transport and a maximum velocity of 0.073 muM and 0.55 pmol min(-1) mg of dry cells(-1), respectively. The other dominant species of iodine in terrestrial and marine environments, iodate (IO(3)(-)), was not transported.