Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

12 Jul, 08 AM - 17 Jul, 03 AM

We seek to elucidate the pathway for thioarsenate decomposition by microbial assemblages, using alkaline, sulfidic and arsenic-enriched Mono Lake bottom waters as a study site. We will perform enrichments and manipulation experiments to test the effects of different electron acceptors on thioarsenate decomposition. We will conduct experiments with radiolabeled arsenic and sulfur to evaluate thioarsenate transformations modeled by 3 different pathways. Finally, we will analyze the microbial communities to determine which organisms and which enzyme systems respond to enrichments with thioarsenates to aid us in identifying pathways. Our experiments are designed to address the following questions: 1) What is the behavior of thioarsenate with arsenate, nitrate or oxygen as electron acceptors? How rapidly do different thioarsenate species decompose with each electron acceptor? Are there specific groups of microbes associated with each pair of reactants. 2) What are the products of the reaction? Arsenate or arsenite? Sulfide or elemental sulfur or some other sulfur species? 3) How does gene expression change during thioarsenate decomposition? What are the pathways involved in thioarsenate oxidation.

Visit #28640 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 25337 | Research

Thioarsenic metabolism in Mono Lake

faculty - University of Georgia

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 2 Graduate Student Jul 12 - 17, 2012 (6 days)
James Hollibaugh Jul 12 - 17, 2012 (6 days)

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