Antimony biomethylation by mixed cultures of micro-organisms under anaerobic conditions

Abstract

The volatile antimony compound trimethylantimony (TMA) was detected in headspace gases over anaerobic soil enrichment cultures spiked with potassium antimony tartrate. The presence of TMA was variable (12 positives from 104 cultures) and dependent upon both the inoculum source (environmental sample) and enrichment culture conditions. Positives for TMA formation were obtained with variable frequency for four of the six soils tested and for three types of enrichment culture, designed to encourage growth of nitrate‐reducing, methane‐producing or fermentative bacteria. The identity of the volatile antimony compound produced in each of the three types of enrichment culture was confirmed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–atomic absorption spectroscopy. There was no evidence of any other volatile antimony compound in the headspace gases. These data suggest that the capability to generate TMA is widely distributed in the terrestrial environment and is attributable to different metabolic types of micro‐organisms. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Rice Paddy Soils: Field and Microcosm Study

“…It is inferred that Sb is likely hosted in refractory phases due to the minimal solubility observed in our study and extraction results from paddy soils in the region (Okkenhaug et al, 2011;Zhou et al, 2019). The proportion of the soil Sb volatilized was between 0.00002 to 0.000085 %, lower than previously reported in shooting range soils (0.0004 to 0.002 %) , microorganisms (0.001 to 2.3 %) (Jenkins et al, 1998;Smith et al, 2002;Wehmeier and Feldmann, 2005b), and alluvial soils (2.8 %) (Meyer et al, 2007).…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Rice Paddy Soils: Field and Microcosm Study

“…It is inferred that Sb is likely hosted in refractory phases due to the minimal solubility observed in our study and extraction results from paddy soils in the region (Okkenhaug et al, 2011;Zhou et al, 2019). The proportion of the soil Sb volatilized was between 0.00002 to 0.000085 %, lower than previously reported in shooting range soils (0.0004 to 0.002 %) , microorganisms (0.001 to 2.3 %) (Jenkins et al, 1998;Smith et al, 2002;Wehmeier and Feldmann, 2005b), and alluvial soils (2.8 %) (Meyer et al, 2007).…”

Biomethylation of Arsenic, Antimony and Bismuth

“…Much of the research initiated in response to the Government enquiry into the toxic gas hypothesis focused on aerobic fungal isolates and PVC covers as the site of microbial activity. Subsequently, in response to several reports of antimony being volatilized by mixed cultures of bacteria growing under anaerobic conditions [112][113][114], a modified hypothesis was propose in which anaerobic bacteria become established in the polyurethane foam of cot mattresses and volatilize the inorganic antimony arising through leaching from PVC [115]. Testing of this hypothesis demonstrated that past microbial activity had given rise to involatile methylated species of antimony in more than 60% of used cot mattress foams (see Table 7.2) [115].…”

“…Trimethylstibine production by anaerobic soil/sediment enrichment culture has also been reported [112][113][114]. G€ urley€ uk et al [114] detected Me 3 Sb in the culture headspace of soil bacteria enrichment cultures, when supplied with inorganic antimony in the (III) or (V) oxidation states.…”

“…In this work, pond sediment samples were incubated under conditions (highly proteinaceous medium) that promote growth of fermentative bacteria and supplied with PAT. Jenkins et al [112] reported positive results for Me 3 Sb with variable frequency for four of six soils tested and for three types of enrichment culture, each designed to encourage growth of fermentative, nitrate reducing or methane producing bacteria. These authors proposed that, as for arsenic, different metabolic categories of prokaryotic organisms are able to methylate antimony and that this capability is widely distributed in the natural environment.…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Organic-Rich and Iron-Rich Submerged Soils

“…A variety of microorganisms can methylate inorganic Sb [49][50][51][52][53]. These microorganisms are both aerobic [50,51,[54][55][56] and anaerobic [52,53,[57][58][59].…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Rice Paddy Soils: Field and Microcosm Study

“…It is inferred that Sb is likely hosted in refractory phases due to the minimal solubility observed in our study and extraction results from paddy soils in the region (Okkenhaug et al, 2011;Zhou et al, 2019). The proportion of the soil Sb volatilized was between 0.00002 to 0.000085 %, lower than previously reported in shooting range soils (0.0004 to 0.002 %) , microorganisms (0.001 to 2.3 %) (Jenkins et al, 1998;Smith et al, 2002;Wehmeier and Feldmann, 2005b), and alluvial soils (2.8 %) (Meyer et al, 2007).…”

Biomethylation of Arsenic, Antimony and Bismuth

“…Much of the research initiated in response to the Government enquiry into the toxic gas hypothesis focused on aerobic fungal isolates and PVC covers as the site of microbial activity. Subsequently, in response to several reports of antimony being volatilized by mixed cultures of bacteria growing under anaerobic conditions [112][113][114], a modified hypothesis was propose in which anaerobic bacteria become established in the polyurethane foam of cot mattresses and volatilize the inorganic antimony arising through leaching from PVC [115]. Testing of this hypothesis demonstrated that past microbial activity had given rise to involatile methylated species of antimony in more than 60% of used cot mattress foams (see Table 7.2) [115].…”

“…Trimethylstibine production by anaerobic soil/sediment enrichment culture has also been reported [112][113][114]. G€ urley€ uk et al [114] detected Me 3 Sb in the culture headspace of soil bacteria enrichment cultures, when supplied with inorganic antimony in the (III) or (V) oxidation states.…”

“…In this work, pond sediment samples were incubated under conditions (highly proteinaceous medium) that promote growth of fermentative bacteria and supplied with PAT. Jenkins et al [112] reported positive results for Me 3 Sb with variable frequency for four of six soils tested and for three types of enrichment culture, each designed to encourage growth of fermentative, nitrate reducing or methane producing bacteria. These authors proposed that, as for arsenic, different metabolic categories of prokaryotic organisms are able to methylate antimony and that this capability is widely distributed in the natural environment.…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Organic-Rich and Iron-Rich Submerged Soils

“…A variety of microorganisms can methylate inorganic Sb [49][50][51][52][53]. These microorganisms are both aerobic [50,51,[54][55][56] and anaerobic [52,53,[57][58][59].…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Rice Paddy Soils: Field and Microcosm Study

“…It is inferred that Sb is likely hosted in refractory phases due to the minimal solubility observed in our study and extraction results from paddy soils in the region (Okkenhaug et al, 2011;Zhou et al, 2019). The proportion of the soil Sb volatilized was between 0.00002 to 0.000085 %, lower than previously reported in shooting range soils (0.0004 to 0.002 %) , microorganisms (0.001 to 2.3 %) (Jenkins et al, 1998;Smith et al, 2002;Wehmeier and Feldmann, 2005b), and alluvial soils (2.8 %) (Meyer et al, 2007).…”

Biomethylation of Arsenic, Antimony and Bismuth

“…Much of the research initiated in response to the Government enquiry into the toxic gas hypothesis focused on aerobic fungal isolates and PVC covers as the site of microbial activity. Subsequently, in response to several reports of antimony being volatilized by mixed cultures of bacteria growing under anaerobic conditions [112][113][114], a modified hypothesis was propose in which anaerobic bacteria become established in the polyurethane foam of cot mattresses and volatilize the inorganic antimony arising through leaching from PVC [115]. Testing of this hypothesis demonstrated that past microbial activity had given rise to involatile methylated species of antimony in more than 60% of used cot mattress foams (see Table 7.2) [115].…”

“…Trimethylstibine production by anaerobic soil/sediment enrichment culture has also been reported [112][113][114]. G€ urley€ uk et al [114] detected Me 3 Sb in the culture headspace of soil bacteria enrichment cultures, when supplied with inorganic antimony in the (III) or (V) oxidation states.…”

“…In this work, pond sediment samples were incubated under conditions (highly proteinaceous medium) that promote growth of fermentative bacteria and supplied with PAT. Jenkins et al [112] reported positive results for Me 3 Sb with variable frequency for four of six soils tested and for three types of enrichment culture, each designed to encourage growth of fermentative, nitrate reducing or methane producing bacteria. These authors proposed that, as for arsenic, different metabolic categories of prokaryotic organisms are able to methylate antimony and that this capability is widely distributed in the natural environment.…”

Antimony Release and Volatilization from Organic-Rich and Iron-Rich Submerged Soils

“…A variety of microorganisms can methylate inorganic Sb [49][50][51][52][53]. These microorganisms are both aerobic [50,51,[54][55][56] and anaerobic [52,53,[57][58][59].…”