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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:
Ecophysiology of "Halarsenatibacter silvermanii" Strain SLAS-1T, gen. nov., sp. nov., a Facultative Chemoautotrophic Arsenate Respirer from Salt-Saturated Searles Lake, California.
J. S. Blum, S. Han, B. Lanoil, C. Saltikov, B. Witte, F. R. Tabita, S. Langley, T. J. Beveridge, L. Jahnke, and R. S. Oremland (2009)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 75, 1950-1960
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Biotransformation of arsenic by a Yellowstone thermoacidophilic eukaryotic alga.
J. Qin, C. R. Lehr, C. Yuan, X. C. Le, T. R. McDermott, and B. P. Rosen (2009)
PNAS 106, 5213-5217
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Response to Comment on "Arsenic(III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California".
R. S. Oremland, J. F. Stolz, M. Madigan, J. T. Hollibaugh, T. R. Kulp, S. E. Hoeft, J. Fisher, L. G. Miller, C. W. Culbertson, and M. Asao (2009)
Science 323, 583d
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Microbial Transformations of Arsenic in the Environment: From Soda Lakes to Aquifers.
J. R. Lloyd and R. S. Oremland (2006)
Elements 2, 85-90
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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
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