Isolation and identification of indigenous prokaryotic bacteria from arsenic-contaminated water resources and their impact on arsenic transformation

•We isolated arsenic-resistant bacteria from arsenic-contaminated spring water.•Identification 14 isolated bacteria with resistance to some heavy metals was performed.•A new bacterium Pseudomonas strain As-11 (KY119262) was identified as an arsenic transformer.•The new strain can be used in arsenic transformation in-situ.

Arsenic is a known human carcinogen. Arsenite [As(III), H3AsO3] and arsenate [As(V), H2AsO4- and HAsO42-] are the two predominant compounds of As found in surface water and groundwater. The aim of this study was to explore a bioremediation strategy for biotransformation of arsenite to arsenate by microorganisms. In this study, Babagorgor Spring, located west of Iran, was selected as the arsenic-contaminated source and its physicochemical characteristics and in situ microbiological composition were analyzed. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) analysis indicated that the arsenic level was 614 μg/l. Fourteen arsenic tolerant indigenous bacteria were isolated from arsenic-contaminated water using chemically defined medium (CDM), supplemented with 260-3900 mg/l arsenite and 1560-21800 mg/l arsenate. Among the isolates, a strain As-11 exhibited high ability of arsenic transformation. Biochemical tests were used for bacterial identification and confirmation was conducted by 16 S rRNA sequence analysis. Results confirmed that As-11 was related to the genus Pseudomonas. This bacterium showed maximum tolerable concentration to arsenite up to 3250 mg/l and arsenate up to 20280 mg/l. Under heterotrophic conditions, the bacterium exhibited 48% of As(III) and 78% of As(V) transformation from the medium amended with 130 and 312 mg/l of sodium arsenite and sodium arsenate, respectively. Moreover, under chemolithotrophic conditions, bacterium was able to transform 41% of 130 mg/l of As(III) from the medium amended with nitrate as the terminal electron acceptor. Pseudomonas strain As-11 was reported as an arsenic transformer, for the first time.

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