Six New Families of Aerobic Arsenate Reducing Bacteria: Leclercia, Raoultella, Kosakonia, Lelliottia, Yokenella, and Kluyvera

Abstract

Elevated levels of arsenate can occur in the environment due to processes such as mining activities, and microbes must utilize various detoxification mechanisms to adapt to the associated pressure. The aim of this study was to identify as many aerobic arsenate-reducing bacteria (aARB) as possible in order to investigate their phylogenetic diversity and molecular mechanisms of arsenic resistance. We isolated 24 strains of aARB from a long-standing arsenic contaminated environment and detected the ars genotype in them. All 24 strains could reduce approximately 90% of arsenate, and 23 of them exhibited (6–59%) arsenic removal ability. The 16S rRNA gene analyses revealed aARB representing 16 genera were abundant. The included six genera, namely Leclercia, Raoultella, Kosakonia, Lelliottia, Yokenella, and Kluyvera, that were not previously known to reduce or exhibit resistance to arsenic. Twenty-one of 24 aARB were positive for ars amplification and 17 of them harbored a putative arsC gene, which is well-known for its involvement in arsenate reduction. However, the arsenic resistance associated with aARB strains is not always determined by the ars operon system. These results have provided additional insight into aARB and their potential for arsenic transformation and bioremediation.