Chrysiogenes arsenatis isolation

Macy JM, K Nuna, KD Hagen, DR Dixon, PJ Harbour, M Cahill, LI Sly (1996) Chrysiogenes arsenatis gen. nov., sp. nov., a new arsenate-respiring bacterium isolated from gold mine wastewater. Int J Syst Bacteriol 46 1153-1157. 

Chrysiogenes arsenatis is the only known organism capable of using acetate as the electron donor and arsenate as the terminal electron acceptor for growth. This reduction of arsenate to arsenite is catalyzed by an inducible respiratory arsenate reductase, which has been isolated and characterized by Kraft and Macy (1998). Arsenate reductase (Arr) from C. arsenatis is a... 

The reduction of arsenate [As(V)] to arsenite [As(III)] is known to occur in anoxic environments (1,2). Until recently, however, the organisms responsible for this reduction were not known. A number of different bacteria have been isolated that are able to respire with arsenate, reducing it to arsenite. With one exception, these organisms use the nonrespiratory substrate lactate as the electron donor (3-6) and are listed in Table 1. Two of them, Desulfotomaculum auripig-mentum str. OREX-4 (7,8) md Desulfomicrobium sp. str. Ben-RB (9), also respire with sulfate as the terminal electron acceptor. None are able to use the respiratory substrate acetate as the electron donor for arsenate respiration. The only organism known able to do so is Chrysiogenes arsenatis (10). 

This chapter concentrates on arsenate respiration by Chrysiogenes arsenatis and Desulfomicrobium sp. str. Ben-RB. The evidence indicates that they have specific respiratory arsenate reductases involved in energy generation. The isolation, phytogeny, physiology, and biochemistry of arsenate reduction are described separately for each organism. 

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