@article{10.1371/journal.pgen.0030053, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.0030053}, author = {Muller, Daniel AND Médigue, Claudine AND Koechler, Sandrine AND Barbe, Valérie AND Barakat, Mohamed AND Talla, Emmanuel AND Bonnefoy, Violaine AND Krin, Evelyne AND Arsène-Ploetze, Florence AND Carapito, Christine AND Chandler, Michael AND Cournoyer, Benoît AND Cruveiller, Stéphane AND Dossat, Caroline AND Duval, Simon AND Heymann, Michael AND Leize, Emmanuelle AND Lieutaud, Aurélie AND Lièvremont, Didier AND Makita, Yuko AND Mangenot, Sophie AND Nitschke, Wolfgang AND Ortet, Philippe AND Perdrial, Nicolas AND Schoepp, Barbara AND Siguier, Patricia AND Simeonova, Diliana D AND Rouy, Zoé AND Segurens, Béatrice AND Turlin, Evelyne AND Vallenet, David AND Dorsselaer, Alain Van AND Weiss, Stéphanie AND Weissenbach, Jean AND Lett, Marie-Claire AND Danchin, Antoine AND Bertin, Philippe N}, journal = {PLOS Genetics}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {A Tale of Two Oxidation States: Bacterial Colonization of Arsenic-Rich Environments}, year = {2007}, month = {04}, volume = {3}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030053}, pages = {1-13}, abstract = {Microbial biotransformations have a major impact on contamination by toxic elements, which threatens public health in developing and industrial countries. Finding a means of preserving natural environments—including ground and surface waters—from arsenic constitutes a major challenge facing modern society. Although this metalloid is ubiquitous on Earth, thus far no bacterium thriving in arsenic-contaminated environments has been fully characterized. In-depth exploration of the genome of the β-proteobacterium Herminiimonas arsenicoxydans with regard to physiology, genetics, and proteomics, revealed that it possesses heretofore unsuspected mechanisms for coping with arsenic. Aside from multiple biochemical processes such as arsenic oxidation, reduction, and efflux, H. arsenicoxydans also exhibits positive chemotaxis and motility towards arsenic and metalloid scavenging by exopolysaccharides. These observations demonstrate the existence of a novel strategy to efficiently colonize arsenic-rich environments, which extends beyond oxidoreduction reactions. Such a microbial mechanism of detoxification, which is possibly exploitable for bioremediation applications of contaminated sites, may have played a crucial role in the occupation of ancient ecological niches on earth.}, number = {4}, }