• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.31-38
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• 2002

Bacteria have evolved various types of resistance mechanism to toxic heavy metals, such as arsenic and antimony. An arsenical and antimonial resistant bacterium was isolated from a shallow creek draining a coal-mining area near Taebaek City, in Kangwon-Do, Korea. The isolated bacterium was identified and named as Pseudomonas sp. KM20 after biochemical and physiological studies were conducted. A plasmid was identified and its function was studied. Original cells harboring the plasmid were able to grow in the presence of 15 mM sodium arsenite, while the plasmid-cured (plasmidless) strain was sensitive to as little as 0.5 mM sodium arsenate. These results indicated that the plasmid of Pseudomonas sp. KM20 does indeed encode the arsenic resistance determinant. In growth experiments, prior exposure to 0.1 mM arsenate allowed immediate growth when they were challenged with 5 mM arsenate, 5 mM arsenite, or 0.1 mM antimonite. These results suggested that the arsenate, arsenite, and antimonite resistance determinants of Pseudomonas sp. KM20 plasmid were indeed inducible. When induced, plasmid-bearing resistance cells showed a decreased accumulation $of\;73^As$ and showed an enhanced efflux $of\;^73As$. These results suggested that plasmid encoded a transport system that extruded the toxic metalloids, resulting in the lowering of the intracellular concentration of toxic oxyanion. In a Southern blot study, hybridization with an E. coli R773 arsA-specific probe strongly suggested the absence of an arsA cistron in the plasmid-associated arsenical and antimonial resistance determinant of Pseudomonas sp. KM20.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.15-21
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluated seawater bacteria and their seasonal characteristics in the arsenic contaminated coastal seawater of Yeosu Bay, the Republic of Korea. Arsenite-oxidizing bacteria play an important role in the seawater of the arsenic contaminated bay, with a variety of arsenic resistance system (ars) genotypes being present during summer. Specifically, Bacillus sp. strain SeaH-As22w (FJ607342), isolated from the bay, were found to contain the arsB, arrA and aoxR type operons, which are involved in arsenic resistance. The isolated bacteria showed relatively high tolerance to sodium arsenite (III; $NaAsO_2$) at concentrations as high as 50 mM. Additionally, batch seawater experiments showed that Bacillus sp. strain SeaH-As22w completely oxidized 1 mM of As (III) to As (V) within 10 days. Ecologically, the arsenic-oxidizing potential plays an important role in arsenic toxicity and mobility in As-contaminated coastal seawater of Yeosu Bay during all seasons because it facilitates the activity of Bacillus sp. groups.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.63-68
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• 1991

Several arsenic compound-resistant bacteria were isolated from Jung-Rang stream. The isolates, D-3, D-12, and D-14 were characterized phenotypically and genetically, and identified as Serratia liquefaciens, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, respectively. A plasmid of 67kb was found in Klebsiella oxytoca D-12 and designated as pMH12. Transfer of this plasmid from D-12 to E. coli HB101 was occurred, and the resulting transconjugant strains expressed the same level of heavy metal resistance as the donor strain. The physical presence of this plasmid in transconjugant was detected with agarose gel electrophoresis. Arsenite-sensitive derivatives of isolate D-12 were obtained with Mitomycin C treatment which cured pMH12. Antibiotics and heavy metal resistances were also examined to be used as a proper marker for the isolates in gene cloning. Isolate D-12 has resistance to several heavy metal ions such as $Cd^{2+}$ , $Zn^{2+}$ and $Hg^{ 2+}$ Also, all the other arsenite resistant isolates showed resistance to several heavy metal ions and antibiotics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.169-178
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• 2010

The microbial community structure in Thailand soils contaminated with low and high levels of arsenic was determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Band pattern analysis indicated that the bacterial community was not significantly different in the two soils. Phylogenetic analysis obtained by excising and sequencing six bands indicated that the soils were dominated by Arthrobacter koreensis and $\beta$-Proteobacteria. Two hundred and sixty-two bacterial isolates were obtained from arsenic-contaminated soils. The majority of the As-resistant isolates were Gramnegative bacteria. MIC studies indicated that all of the tested bacteria had greater resistance to arsenate than arsenite. Some strains were capable of growing in medium containing up to 1,500 mg/l arsenite and arsenate. Correlations analysis of resistance patterns of arsenite resistance indicated that the isolated bacteria could be categorized into 13 groups, with a maximum similarity value of 100%. All strains were also evaluated for resistance to eight antibiotics. The antibiotic resistance patterns divided the strains into 100 unique groups, indicating that the strains were very diverse. Isolates from each antibiotic resistance group were characterized in more detail by using the repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR) DNA fingerprinting technique with ERIC primers. The PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The genetic relatedness of 100 bacterial fingerprints, determined by using the Pearson product-moment similarity coefficient, showed that the isolates could be divided into four clusters, with similarity values ranging from 5-99%. Although many isolates were genetically diverse, others were clonal in nature. Additionally, the arsenic-resistant isolates were examined for the presence of arsenic resistance (ars) genes by using PCR, and 30% of the isolates were found to carry an arsenate reductase encoded by the arsC gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.825-830
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• 2001

Escherichia coli, which harbored the ars operon from a plasmid pMH12 of Klebsiella oxytoca D12, showed filamentation due to the expression of ars genes in the presence of arsenite. The continued DNA replication in the absence of cell division was revealed, since nucleoids abound with DAPI appeared to be arranged in chains. In contrast to overexpression of arsA, its frame-shift mutant and knock-out mutant lost filamentation in the presence of arsenite, which suggested that ars-induced division block was dependent on expression of arsA. ArsA-induced division inhibition was not a consequence of an inhibition of DNA replication, and the inability of arsenite to induce an SOS response indicated that arsA-mediated division inhibition was dependent on the expression of the gene product encoded by the minB operon. ArsA is a peripheral membrane protein with an ATP-binding domain, which is homologous to MinD that requires ATP-dependent efflux. These results suggested that ArsA could possibly recruit MinC to the membrane and modulate cytoplasmic FtsZ to block assembly at the middle of the cell.

• 한국환경독성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국환경독성학회 2001년도 춘계심포지움 및 학술발표회
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• pp.141-141
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• 2001

The arsenic resistance operon from pMH12 in Klebsiella oxytoca contains two regulatory genes. The first open reading frame for arsR extend up to 348 bp and has a translational product corresponding to a protein of 116 amino acid residue polypeptide with a molecular mass of 13 kDa. And the second ORF for arsD extend up to 360 bp and express a protein of 120 amino anid residue polypeptide with 13kDa. (omitted)

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.593-598
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• 2004

The arsenical resistance (ars) operon was cloned from a 67-kilobase pair (kb) plasmid, which was previously shown to be responsible for arsenic salts resistance in K. oxytoca D12. When plasmid pAE48, carrying the ars operon, was transformed into E. coli, transformed cells displayed enhanced survival in the presence of 4 mM arsenite, 50 mM arsenate, or 0.4 mM antimonite. The nucleotide sequence of the 5.6-kb fragment encoding arsenical resistance revealed five open reading frames (ORFs), which were predicted to encode polypeptides of 12.8 (arsR), 13.4 (arsD), 62.6 (arsA), 45 (arsB), and 16.7 (arse) kilodaltons (kDa). Each ORF was preceded by a ribosome binding site. A putative promoter-like sequence was identified upstream of arsR, and a possible termination site was found downstream of arsC. When the deduced amino acid sequences of the K. oxytoca Dl2 Ars proteins were compared with the amino acid sequences of the E. coli R773 Ars proteins, a significant amino acid similarity was observed (87.9％ for ArsR, 89.2％ for ArsD, 83.2％ for ArsA, 92.6％ for ArsB, and 91.3％ for ArsC), suggesting an evolutionary relationship of the ars genes of E. coli plasmid R773 and K. oxytoca Dl2.