Arsenite oxidation Alcaligenes faecalis

Arsenite is also an intermediate in the fungal biomethylation of arsenic (Bentley and Chasteen 2002) and oxidation to the less toxic arsenate can be accomplished by heterotrophic bacteria including Alcaligenes faecalis. Exceptionally, arsenite can serve as electron donor for chemolithotrophic growth of an organism designated NT-26 (Santini et al. 2000), and both selenate and arsenate can be involved in dissimilation reactions as alternative electron acceptors. 

Alcaligenes faecalis and five members of the p Proteobacteria are heterotrophic arsenite oxidizers, whereas Pseudomonas arsenitoxidans and NT-26 grew anaerobically through chemoautotrophic oxidation (Oremland and Stolz, 2005 Santini et al, 2000). However, six members of a Proteobacteria (Ben-5, NT-3, NT-4, NT-2, NT-26, and NT-25) and one member of y Proteobacteria (MLHE-1) were known chemohthoautotrophic arsenite oxidizers (Oremland et al, 2002). The best characterized and probably most studied of aU arsenite oxidizers is Alcaligenes faecalis, a heterotrophic arsenite oxidizer (Osborne and Enrlich, 1976). The arsenite oxidase from Alcaligenes faecalis has been purified and structurally characterized (Ellis et al, 2001). A similar enzyme has also been purified from the heterotrophic arsenite oxidizers Hydrogenophaga sp. strain NT-14 (Vanden Hoven and Santini, 2004) and the chemolithoautotrophic Rhizobium sp. strain NT-26 (Santini and Vanden Hoven, 2004), which indicate that the arsenite oxidase enzyme is also a member of the DMSO reductase family of molybdenum enzymes, similar to the respiratory arsenate reductases (Arr). The arsenite oxidase heterodimer comprises an 88 kDa catalytic subunit encoded by the aoxB gene that contains a [3Fe-4S] cluster and molybdenum bound to the pyranopterin cofactor and a 14 kDa subunit... 

SE Phillips, ML Taylor. Oxidation of arsenite to arsenate by Alcaligenes faecalis. Appl Environ Microbiol 32 392-399, 1976. 

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