Fossil fuel
combustion, industrial pollution and other anthropogenic emissions arise every
day. These processes release several
unwanted chemicals into our environment.
One of the most common and lethal: arsenic. There are few known ways to sustainably
remove the toxic substance; however, bacteria have proven to be of some assistance. The arsM gene (responsible for arsenic
methylation) from Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii was inserted into Psuedomonas
putida via conjugation. P. putida was then subjected to 25uM
arsenic and was allowed to “work its magic.”
It was found that P. putida successfully
biotransformed arsenic to less toxic products.
This shows much potential in bioremediation of air and contaminated
water sources which is a devastation that many countries suffer from.
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| Figure from Chen et al. 2013 showing levels of arsenic (As(III)) and products after P. putida exposure (DMA, MA and As(V)) over time. |
Original article: Chen J, Qin J, Zhu YG, deLorenzo V, Rosen BP. (2013). Engineering the soil bacterium psuedomonas putida for arsenic methylation. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 79:4493-4495.
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