1st Edition

The Metabolism of Arsenite

Edited By Joanne M. Santini, Seamus A. Ward Copyright 2012
    218 Pages
    by CRC Press

    216 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Up to 200 million people in 70 countries are at risk from drinking water contaminated with arsenic, which is a major cause of chronic debilitating illnesses and fatal cancers. Until recently little was known about the mobility of arsenic, and how redox transformations determined its movement into or out of water supplies. Although human activities contribute to the release of arsenic from minerals, it is now clear that bacteria are responsible for most of the redox transformation of arsenic in the environment. Bacterial oxidation of arsenite (to the less mobile arsenate) has been known since 1918, but it was not until 2000 that a bacterium was shown to gain energy from this process. Since then a wide range of arsenite-oxidizing bacteria have been isolated, including aerobes and anaerobes; heterotrophs and autotrophs; thermophiles, mesophiles and psychrophiles. This book reviews recent advances in the study of such bacteria. After a section on background—geology and health issues—the main body of the book concerns the cellular machinery of arsenite oxidation. It concludes by examining possible applications. Topics treated are:

    • The geology and cycling of arsenic
    • Arsenic and disease
    • Arsenite oxidation: physiology, enzymes, genes, and gene regulation.
    • Community genomics and functioning, and the evolution of arsenite oxidation
    • Microbial arsenite oxidation in bioremediation
    • Biosensors for arsenic in drinking water and industrial effluents

    Arsenic in the environment
    D. Kossoff & K.A. Hudson-Edward
    Introduction
    Chemistry and mineralogy of arsenic 
    Distribution of arsenic in the environment 
    Processes of arsenic cycling in the environment

    Giant Mine,Yellowknife, Canada: Arsenite waste as the legacy of gold mining and processing
    M. Bromstad & H.E. Jamieson
    Introduction 
    Background 
    Arsenic and arsenite in mine wastes and surrounding area 
    Transformation and remobilization of arsenic species 
    Site remediation 
    Summary

    Genotoxic and carcinogenic risk of arsenic exposure. Influence of interindividual genetic variability
    R. Marcos & A. Hernández
    Introduction 
    Carcinogenic risk 
    Genotoxic risk 
    Genetic polymorphisms affecting carcinogenic risk 
    Genetic polymorphisms affecting genotoxic risk 
    Conclusions

    Overview of microbial arsenic metabolism and resistance
    J.F. Stolz
    Introduction 
    Arsenic resistance 
    Arsenic in energy generation

    Prokaryotic aerobic oxidation of arsenite
    T.H. Osborne & J.M. Santini
    Introduction 
    Aerobic arsenite-oxidizing bacteria 
    Arsenite metabolism 
    Aerobic arsenite-oxidizing communities 
    Summary and future directions

    Anaerobic oxidation of arsenite by autotrophic bacteria: The view from Mono Lake, California
    R.S. Oremland, J.F. Stolz & C.W. Saltikov
    Introduction 
    Nitrate-respiring arsenite-oxidizers 
    An annotated arsenate reductase that runs in reverse 
    Anoxygenic photosynthesis fueled by arsenite

    Arsenite oxidase
    M.D. Heath, B. Schoepp-Cothenet, T.H. Osborne & J.M. Santini
    Introduction 
    Characteristics of the arsenite oxidase

    Microbial arsenic response and metabolism in the genomics era
    P.N. Bertin, L. Geist, D. Halter, S. Koechler, M. Marchal & F. Arsène-Ploetze
    Introduction 
    Descriptive and comparative genomics 
    High-throughput genomics reveal the functioning of microorganisms 
    Conclusions

    Arsenite oxidation – regulation of gene expression
    M.Wojnowska & S. Djordjevic 
    Introduction 
    Multiple modes of arsenite oxidase regulation 
    AioSR and their involvement in Aio regulation 
    Quorum sensing 
    Heat-shock protein DNAJ 
    Conclusions

    Evolution of arsenite oxidation
    R. van Lis,W. Nitschke, S. Duval & B. Schoepp-Cothenet
    Introduction 
    Molecular description of arsenic bioenergetic enzymes 
    Function of the enzymes 
    Phylogenetic analysis of Aio and Arr 
    Taking bioenergetics into account 
    Evolutionary scenario of arsenite oxidation

    Remediation using arsenite-oxidizing bacteria
    F. Delavat, M.-C. Lett & D. Lièvremont
    Introduction
    Arsenite oxidation-based remediation bioprocesses 
    Conclusion

    Development of biosensors for the detection of arsenic in drinking water
    C. French, K. de Mora, N. Joshi, J. Haseloff & J. Ajioka 
    Introduction 
    Biosensors for detection of environmental toxins 
    Biosensors for arsenic 
    Conclusions

    Subject index

    Biography

    Joanne M. Santini (University College London, UK) (Edited by) ,  Seamus A. Ward (University College London, UK) (Edited by)