Taxonomic and functional prokaryote diversity in mildly arsenic-contaminated sediments

David Halter (1) , Audrey Cordi (2) , Simonetta Gribaldo (3) , Sébastien Gallien (4) , Florence Goulhen-Chollet (1) , Audrey Heinrich-Salmeron (1) , Christine Carapito (4) , Christophe Pagnout (2) , Didier Montaut (5) , Fabienne Seby (5) , Alain van Dorsselaer (4) , Christine Schaeffer (4) , Philippe Bertin (1) , Pascale Bauda (2) , Florence Arsène-Ploetze (1)

1 GMGM - Génétique moléculaire, génomique, microbiologie
2 LIEBE - Laboratoire des Interactions Ecotoxicologie, Biodiversité, Ecosystèmes
3 BMGE - Biologie Moléculaire du Gène chez les Extrêmophiles
4 LSMBO - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse BioOrganique [Strasbourg]
5 UT2A - Ultra Traces Analyses Aquitaine

Arsenic-resistant prokaryote diversity is far from being exhaustively explored. In this study, the arsenic-adapted prokaryotic community present in a moderately arsenic-contaminated site near Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (France) was characterized, using metaproteomic and 16S rRNA-encoding gene amplification. High prokaryotic diversity was observed, with a majority of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Bacter-oidetes, and a large archaeal community comprising Euryarchaeaota and Thaumarchaeota. Metaproteomic analysis revealed that Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes and Cyanobacteria are among the active bacteria in this ecosystem. Taken together, these results highlight the unsuspected high diversity of the arsenic-adapted prokaryotic community, with some phyla never having been described in highly arsenic-exposed sites.

Keywords: Arsenic; Environmental genomics; Metaproteomics; Biodiversity; Mining

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology

David Halter, Audrey Cordi, Simonetta Gribaldo, Sébastien Gallien, Florence Goulhen-Chollet, et al.. Taxonomic and functional prokaryote diversity in mildly arsenic-contaminated sediments. Research in Microbiology, 2011, 162 (9), pp.877-887. ⟨10.1016/j.resmic.2011.06.001⟩. ⟨pasteur-02445836⟩