Development of a Molecular System for Studying Microbial Arsenate Respiration

The toxic element arsenic is a major contaminant of many groundwaters and surface waters throughout the world. Arsenic enrichment is primarily of geological origin resulting from weathering processes and geothermal activity. Not surprisingly, microorganisms inhabiting anoxic arsenic-contaminated environments have evolved to exploit arsenate during respiration. Numerous bacteria have been isolated that use arsenate as a terminal electron acceptor for respiratory growth. The diversity of this metabolism appears to be widespread throughout the microbial tree of life, suggesting respiratory arsenate reduction is ancient in origin. Yet little is known about the molecular mechanisms for how these organisms respire arsenate. We have developed a model system in Shewanella trabarsenatis, strain ANA-3, a facultative anaerobe that respires arsenate and tolerates high concentrations of arsenite (10 mM). Through loss-of-function studies, we have identified genes involved in both arsenic resistance and arsenate respiration. The genes that confer resistance to arsenic are homologous to the well-characterized ars operon of E. coli. However, the respiratory arsenate reductase is predicted to encode a novel protein that shares homologous regions (~ 40 % similarity) to molybdopterin anaerobic reductases specific for DMSO, thiosulfate, nitrate, and polysulfide. I will discuss our emerging model for how strain ANA-3 respires arsenate and the relationship between arsenite resistance and arsenate respiration. I will also highlight the relevance of this type of analysis for biogeochemical studies.