Redox Transformation Of Arsenic Research Articles

Role of structural Fe in nontronite NAu-1 and dissolved Fe(II) in redox transformations of arsenic and antimony

Oxidation state is a major factor affecting the mobility of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in soil and aquatic systems. Metal (hydr)oxides and clay minerals are effective sorbents, and may also promote redox reactions on their surfaces via direct or indirect facilitation of electron transfer. Iron substituted for Al in the octahedral sites of aluminosilicate clay minerals has the potential to be in variable oxidation states and is a key constituent of electron transfer reactions in clay minerals. This experimental work was conducted to determine whether structural Fe in clays can affect the oxidation state of As and Sb adsorbed at the clay surface. Another goal of our study was to compare the reactivity of clay structural Fe(II) with systems containing Fe(II) present in dissolved/adsorbed forms.The experimental systems included batch reactors with various concentrations of As(III), Sb(III), As(V), or Sb(V) equilibrated with oxidized (NAu-1) or partially reduced (NAu-1-Red) nontronite, hydrous aluminum oxide (HAO) and kaolinite (KGa-1b) suspensions under oxic and anoxic conditions. The reaction times ranged from 0.5 to 720h, and pH was constrained at 5.5 (for As) and at 5.5 or 8.0 (for Sb). The oxidation state of As and Sb in the liquid phase was determined by liquid chromatography in line with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, and in the solid phase by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Our findings show that structural Fe(II) in NAu-1-Red was not able to reduce As(V)/Sb(V) under the conditions examined, but reduction was seen when aqueous Fe(II) was present in the systems with kaolinite (KGa-1b) and nontronite (NAu-1). The ability of the structural Fe in nontronite clay NAu-1 to promote oxidation of As(III)/Sb(III) was greatly affected by its oxidation state: if all structural Fe was in the oxidized Fe(III) form, no oxidation was observed; however, when the clay was partially reduced (∼20% of structural Fe was reduced to Fe(II)), NAu-1-Red promoted the most extensive oxidation under both oxic and anoxic conditions. Electron balance considerations suggest that structural Fe(III) in the NAu-1-Red was the sole oxidant in the anoxic setup, while dissolved O2 also contributes in oxic conditions. Long-term batch experiments revealed the complex dynamics of As aqueous speciation in anoxic and oxic systems when reduced arsenic was initially added: rapid disappearance of As(III) was observed due to oxidation to As(V) followed by a slow increase of aqueous As(III). This behavior is explained by two reactions: fast initial oxidation of As(III) by structural Fe(III) (anoxic) or Fe(III) and dissolved O2 (oxic) followed by the slow reduction of As(V) by dissolved Fe(II). The resulting re-mobilization of As due to As(V) reduction by aqueous Fe(II) occurs on time scales on the order of days. These reactions are likely significant in a natural soil or aquifer environment with seasonal cycling or slightly reducing conditions with an abundance of clay minerals and dissolved Fe(II).

Arsenic redox transformation by humic substances and Fe minerals

Abstract The toxicity and mobility of the redox-active metalloid As strongly depends on its oxidation state, with As(III) (arsenite) being more toxic and mobile than As(V) (arsenate). It is, therefore, necessary to know the biogeochemical processes potentially influencing As redox state to understand and predict its environmental behavior. The first part of this presentation will discuss the quantification of As redox changes by pH-neutral mineral suspensions of goethite [α-Fe III OOH] amended with Fe(II) using wet-chemical and synchrotron X-ray absorption (XANES) analysis ( Amstaetter et al., 2010 ). First, it was found that goethite itself did not oxidize As(III). Second, in contrast to thermodynamic predictions, Fe(II)–goethite systems did not reduce As(V). However, surprisingly, rapid oxidation of As(III) to As(V) was observed in Fe(II)–goethite systems. Iron speciation and mineral analysis by Mossbauer spectroscopy showed rapid formation of 57 Fe–goethite after 57 Fe(II) addition and the formation of a so far unidentified additional Fe(II) phase. No other Fe(III) phase could be detected by Mossbauer spectroscopy, EXAFS, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction or high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. This suggests that reactive Fe(III) species form as an intermediate Fe(III) phase upon Fe(II) addition and electron transfer into bulk goethite but before crystallization of the newly formed Fe(III) as goethite. The second part of the presentation will show that semiquinone radicals produced during microbial or chemical reduction of a humic substance model quinone (AQDS, 9,10-anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonic acid) can react with As and change its redox state ( Jiang et al., 2009 ). The results of these experiments showed that these semiquinone radicals are strong oxidants and oxidize arsenite to arsenate, thus decreasing As toxicity and mobility. The oxidation of As(III) depended strongly on pH. More arsenite (up to 67.3%) was oxidized at pH 11 compared to pH 7 (12.6% oxidation) and pH 3 (0.5% oxidation). In addition to As(III) oxidation by semiquinone radicals, hydroquinones that were also produced during quinone reduction, reduced As(V) to As(III) at neutral and acidic pH values (less than 12%) but not at alkaline pH. In an attempt to understand the observed redox reactions between As and reduced/oxidized quinones present in humic substances, the radical content in reduced AQDS solutions was quantified and Eh-pH diagrams were constructed. Both the radical quantification and the Eh-pH diagram allowed explaining the observed redox reactions between the reduced AQDS solutions and the As. In summary these studies indicate that in the simultaneous presence of Fe(III) oxyhydroxides, Fe(II), and humic substances as commonly observed in environments inhabited by Fe-reducing microorganisms, As(III) oxidation can occur. This potentially explains the presence of As(V) in reduced groundwater aquifers.

Novel gene clusters involved in arsenite oxidation and resistance in two arsenite oxidizers: Achromobacter sp. SY8 and Pseudomonas sp. TS44

This study describes three gene clusters involved in arsenic redox transformation of two arsenite oxidizers: Achromobacter sp. SY8 and Pseudomonas sp. TS44. A 17.5-kb sequence containing the arsenite oxidase (aox) gene cluster (aoxX-aoxS-aoxR and aoxA-aoxB-aoxC-aoxD) was isolated from SY8 using a fosmid library approach. Similarly, a 14.6-kb sequence including the aox cluster (arsD-arsA-aoxA-aoxB) and the arsenic resistance (ars) gene cluster (arsC1-arsR-arsC2-ACR3-arsH-dual specificity phosphatase (DSP)-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)-major facilitator superfamily (MFS)) was obtained from TS44 by inverse polymerase chain reaction (PCR). According to reverse transcription (RT) PCR experiments, SY8 aoxXSR and aoxABCD transcribed as two different transcripts in opposite directions, and TS44 aox and ars clusters transcribed as a single transcript in their respective cluster. All of these genes were found to be upregulated by the addition of arsenite [As(III)], arsenate [As(V)], and antimonite [Sb(III)], except that TS44 arsC1-arsR appeared to be expressed constitutively. The SY8 aox cluster was predicted to be regulated by a two-component signal transduction system and a potential regulatory model was proposed. The TS44 aox cluster is unusual since it contains structural genes only and arsDA in its upstream. The TS44 ars cluster includes several genes previously identified not associated with arsenic resistance or transformation. This study showed novel structures and arrangements of arsenic gene clusters associated with bacterial As(III) oxidation and As(V) reduction.

Biotransformation of arsenic by a Yellowstone thermoacidophilic eukaryotic alga.

Arsenic is the most common toxic substance in the environment, ranking first on the Superfund list of hazardous substances. It is introduced primarily from geochemical sources and is acted on biologically, creating an arsenic biogeocycle. Geothermal environments are known for their elevated arsenic content and thus provide an excellent setting in which to study microbial redox transformations of arsenic. To date, most studies of microbial communities in geothermal environments have focused on Bacteria and Archaea, with little attention to eukaryotic microorganisms. Here, we show the potential of an extremophilic eukaryotic alga of the order Cyanidiales to influence arsenic cycling at elevated temperatures. Cyanidioschyzon sp. isolate 5508 oxidized arsenite [As(III)] to arsenate [As(V)], reduced As(V) to As(III), and methylated As(III) to form trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO) and dimethylarsenate [DMAs(V)]. Two arsenic methyltransferase genes, CmarsM7 and CmarsM8, were cloned from this organism and demonstrated to confer resistance to As(III) in an arsenite hypersensitive strain of Escherichia coli. The 2 recombinant CmArsMs were purified and shown to transform As(III) into monomethylarsenite, DMAs(V), TMAO, and trimethylarsine gas, with a T(opt) of 60-70 degrees C. These studies illustrate the importance of eukaryotic microorganisms to the biogeochemical cycling of arsenic in geothermal systems, offer a molecular explanation for how these algae tolerate arsenic in their environment, and provide the characterization of algal methyltransferases.

Genes involved in arsenic transformation and resistance associated with different levels of arsenic-contaminated soils

BackgroundArsenic is known as a toxic metalloid, which primarily exists in inorganic form [As(III) and As(V)] and can be transformed by microbial redox processes in the natural environment. As(III) is much more toxic and mobile than As(V), hence microbial arsenic redox transformation has a major impact on arsenic toxicity and mobility which can greatly influence the human health. Our main purpose was to investigate the distribution and diversity of microbial arsenite-resistant species in three different arsenic-contaminated soils, and further study the As(III) resistance levels and related functional genes of these species.ResultsA total of 58 arsenite-resistant bacteria were identified from soils with three different arsenic-contaminated levels. Highly arsenite-resistant bacteria (MIC > 20 mM) were only isolated from the highly arsenic-contaminated site and belonged to Acinetobacter, Agrobacterium, Arthrobacter, Comamonas, Rhodococcus, Stenotrophomonas and Pseudomonas. Five arsenite-oxidizing bacteria that belonged to Achromobacter, Agrobacterium and Pseudomonas were identified and displayed a higher average arsenite resistance level than the non-arsenite oxidizers. 5 aoxB genes encoding arsenite oxidase and 51 arsenite transporter genes [18 arsB, 12 ACR3(1) and 21 ACR3(2)] were successfully amplified from these strains using PCR with degenerate primers. The aoxB genes were specific for the arsenite-oxidizing bacteria. Strains containing both an arsenite oxidase gene (aoxB) and an arsenite transporter gene (ACR3 or arsB) displayed a higher average arsenite resistance level than those possessing an arsenite transporter gene only. Horizontal transfer of ACR3(2) and arsB appeared to have occurred in strains that were primarily isolated from the highly arsenic-contaminated soil.ConclusionSoils with long-term arsenic contamination may result in the evolution of highly diverse arsenite-resistant bacteria and such diversity was probably caused in part by horizontal gene transfer events. Bacteria capable of both arsenite oxidation and arsenite efflux mechanisms had an elevated arsenite resistance level.

Arsenite-dependent photoautotrophy by an Ectothiorhodospira-dominated consortium

Over the past decade numerous lineages of bacteria have been shown to obtain energy for growth through redox transformations of arsenic. However, phototrophic growth using reduced arsenic as an electron donor has not been described. Here we report the light-dependent oxidation of arsenite to arsenate, coupled with autotrophic growth, by an Ectothiorhodospira-dominated consortium of bacteria from alkaline, hypersaline Mono Lake, California. Pure cultures of the Mono Lake Ectothiorhodospira were not capable of phototrophic arsenite oxidation under the culture conditions tested. Electron micrographs of the culture showed a close association between consortia members, although the specific contribution of the individual bacteria is currently unknown. This report extends the list of compounds known to support anoxygenic photosynthesis and documents a previously unknown pathway in arsenic geochemistry.