| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4481738 | Water Research | 2013 | 9 Pages |
•As(III)-oxidizers diversity in groundwater of a blackfoot disease area was studied.•Dissolved As-concentration and redox levels mostly influence As(III)-oxidizers.•Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria were dominated in less As-contaminated groundwater.•Pseudomonas sp. was found only in groundwater containing high arsenic.
The role of arsenite oxidizers in natural attenuation of arsenic pollution necessitates studies on their abundance and diversity in arsenic-contaminated aquifers. In this study, most probable number-polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was applied to monitor depth-wise abundance and diversity of aerobic arsenite oxidizers in arsenic-enriched groundwater of Beimen, southwestern Taiwan. The results revealed that the abundance of arsenite oxidizers ranged from 0.04 to 0.22, and the lowest ratio was observed in the most arsenic-enriched and comparatively more reduced groundwater (depth 200 m) of Beimen 1. The highest ratio was observed in the less arsenic-enriched and less reduced groundwater (depth 60 m) of Beimen 2B. DGGE profiles showed a shift in diversity of arsenite oxidizers, consisting of members of the Betaproteobacteria (61%), Alphaproteobacteria (28%) and Gammaproteobacteria (11%), depending on mainly arsenic concentration and redox level in groundwater. Groundwater with the lowest arsenic and highest dissolved oxygen at Beimen 2B harbored 78% of the arsenite oxidizers communities, while groundwater with the highest arsenic and lowest dissolved oxygen at Beimen 1 and Beimen–Jinhu harbored 17 and 22% of arsenite oxidizers communities, respectively. Pseudomonas sp. was found only in groundwater containing high arsenic at Beimen 1 and Beimen–Jinhu, while arsenite oxidizers belonging to Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria were dominated in groundwater containing low arsenic.
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