Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.02851-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.
Diversity surveys and evolutionary relationships of aoxB genes in aerobic arsenite-oxidizing bacteria
Marianne Quéméneur,
Audrey Heinrich-Salmeron,
Daniel Muller,
Didier Lièvremont,
Michel Jauzein,
Philippe Bertin,
Francis Garrido,
and
Catherine Joulian*
BRGM, Ecotechnology Unit, Process and Environment Division, 3 avenue Claude Guillemin, 45060 Orléans cedex 02, France; Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR 7156 CNRS and Université Louis Pasteur, 28, rue Goethe, 67000 Strasbourg, France; Écologie microbienne, UMR CNRS 5557 USC INRA 1193 Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France; LIMOS, UMR 7137, CNRS and Université de Nancy, BP 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy cedex, France
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email:
c.joulian{at}brgm.fr.
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Abstract |
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A new primer set was designed to specifically amplify ca. 1100 bp of aoxB genes encoding the As(III)-oxidase catalytic subunit from taxonomically diverse aerobic As(III)-oxidizing bacteria. Comparative analysis of AoxB protein sequences showed variable conservation levels and highlighted the conservation of essential amino acids and structural motifs. AoxB phylogeny of pure strains showed well-discriminated taxonomic groups and was similar to 16S rRNA phylogeny. Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria-related sequences were retrieved from environmental surveys, demonstrating their prevalence in mesophilic As-contaminated soils. Our study underlines the usefulness of the aoxB gene as a functional marker of aerobic As(III) oxidizers.