Abstract
Arsenic (As) poses a risk to the human health in excess exposure and microbes play an important role in the toxicity of As. Arsenic methylation mediated by microbes is a key driver of As toxicity in the environment and this paper reviews the role of microbial arsenic methylation and volatilization in the biogeochemical cycle of arsenic. In specific, little is presently known about the molecular mechanism and gene characterization of arsenic methylation. The uptake of methylated arsenic in plants is influenced by microbial arsenic methylation in soil, thus enhancing the volatilization of methylated arsenic is a potential mitigation point for arsenic mobility and toxicity in the environment. On the other hand, the potential risk of methylated arsenic on organisms is also discussed. And the directions for future research, theoretical reference for the control and remediation of arsenic methylation, are presented.
Highlights
Arsenic (As) exists widely in the environment both naturally [geogenic] and as a consequence of mining and industrial processes and presents toxicity issues when mobile within the environment
Microbial arsenic arsenic methylation affects theand migration and transformation arsenic, completing the methylation affects the migration transformation of arsenic, thusof completing the biogeochemical biogeochemical cycle of arsenic naturemethylation (Figure 1). can Arsenic methylation be considered as a cycle of arsenic in nature
MD1 can further demethylate MMAs(V) into As(V), indicating that demethylation of methylated arsenic species is probably a two-step process coordinated by multiple microorganisms [35]
Summary
Xuerong Di 1,2 , Luke Beesley 3 , Zulin Zhang 3,4 , Suli Zhi 1 , Yan Jia 2, * and Yongzhen Ding 1, *. Hubei Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Processing and Environment, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China. Received: 2 November 2019; Accepted: 7 December 2019; Published: 10 December 2019
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