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Science 27 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5726, pp. 1305 - 1308
DOI: 10.1126/science.1110832
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Reports

A Microbial Arsenic Cycle in a Salt-Saturated, Extreme Environment

Ronald S. Oremland,1* Thomas R. Kulp,1 Jodi Switzer Blum,1 Shelley E. Hoeft,1 Shaun Baesman,1 Laurence G. Miller,1 John F. Stolz2

Searles Lake is a salt-saturated, alkaline brine unusually rich in the toxic element arsenic. Arsenic speciation changed from arsenate [As(V)] to arsenite [As(III)] with sediment depth. Incubated anoxic sediment slurries displayed dissimilatory As(V)-reductase activity that was markedly stimulated by H2 or sulfide, whereas aerobic slurries had rapid As(III)-oxidase activity. An anaerobic, extremely haloalkaliphilic bacterium was isolated from the sediment that grew via As(V) respiration, using either lactate or sulfide as its electron donor. Hence, a full biogeochemical cycle of arsenic occurs in Searles Lake, driven in part by inorganic electron donors.

1 U.S. Geological Survey, ms 480, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
2 Department of Biological Science, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: roremlan{at}usgs.gov

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Arsenic(III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California.
T. R. Kulp, S. E. Hoeft, M. Asao, M. T. Madigan, J. T. Hollibaugh, J. C. Fisher, J. F. Stolz, C. W. Culbertson, L. G. Miller, and R. S. Oremland (2008)
Science 321, 967-970
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Effects of Imposed Salinity Gradients on Dissimilatory Arsenate Reduction, Sulfate Reduction, and Other Microbial Processes in Sediments from Two California Soda Lakes.
T. R. Kulp, S. Han, C. W. Saltikov, B. D. Lanoil, K. Zargar, and R. S. Oremland (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 5130-5137
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Alkalilimnicola ehrlichii sp. nov., a novel, arsenite-oxidizing haloalkaliphilic gammaproteobacterium capable of chemoautotrophic or heterotrophic growth with nitrate or oxygen as the electron acceptor.
S. E. Hoeft, J. S. Blum, J. F. Stolz, F. R. Tabita, B. Witte, G. M. King, J. M. Santini, and R. S. Oremland (2007)
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 57, 504-512
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dissimilatory arsenate and sulfate reduction in sediments of two hypersaline, arsenic-rich soda lakes: mono and searles lakes, california..
T. R. Kulp, S. E. Hoeft, L. G. Miller, C. Saltikov, J. N. Murphy, S. Han, B. Lanoil, and R. S. Oremland (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 6514-6526
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microbial Transformations of Arsenic in the Environment: From Soda Lakes to Aquifers.
J. R. Lloyd and R. S. Oremland (2006)
Elements 2, 85-90
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sulfide oxidation coupled to arsenate reduction by a diverse microbial community in a soda lake..
J. T. Hollibaugh, C. Budinoff, R. A. Hollibaugh, B. Ransom, and N. Bano (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 2043-2049
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)