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.
CITATION STYLE
Oremland, R. S., Kulp, T. R., Blum, J. S., Hoeft, S. E., Baesman, S., Miller, L. G., & Stolz, J. F. (2005). Microbiology: A microbial arsenic cycle in a salt-saturated, extreme environment. Science, 308(5726), 1305–1308. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110832
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