Dimethylselenide and Dimethyltelluride Formation by a Strain of Penicillium

Fleming, R. W.; Alexander, Martin

doi:10.1128/aem.24.3.424-429.1972

Cited by 82 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Until the advent of GC‐MS, the identity of the garlic‐like odor produced by bacterial cultures amended with Te salts was based primarily on the smell itself or by wet chemical tests designed to trap a bacterial‐produced gas, derivatize it, and compare the derivative's melting point with a standard (Bird & Challenger, 1939). Fleming & Alexander (1972) used GC‐MS to confirm the production of both CH 3 SeCH 3 and CH 3 TeCH 3 by metalloid‐amended Penicillium sp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tellurite: history, oxidative stress, and molecular mechanisms of resistance

et al. 2009

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The perceived importance of tellurium (Te) in biological systems has lagged behind selenium (Se), its lighter sister in the Group 16 chalcogens, because of tellurium's lower crustal abundance, lower oxyanion solubility and biospheric mobility and the fact that, unlike Se, Te has yet to be found to be an essential trace element. Te applications in electronics, optics, batteries and mining industries have expanded during the last few years, leading to an increase in environmental Te contamination, thus renewing biological interest in Te toxicity. This chalcogen is rarely found in the nontoxic, elemental state (Te(0)), but its soluble oxyanions, tellurite (TeO(3)(2-)) and tellurate (TeO(4)(2-)), are toxic for most forms of life even at very low concentrations. Although a number of Te resistance determinants (Tel) have been identified in plasmids or in the bacterial chromosome of different species of bacteria, the genetic and/or biochemical basis underlying bacterial TeO(3)(2-) toxicity is still poorly understood. This review traces the history of Te in its biological interactions, its enigmatic toxicity, importance in cellular oxidative stress, and interaction in cysteine metabolism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tellurite: history, oxidative stress, and molecular mechanisms of resistance

et al. 2009

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“…18 In earlier work, Candida humicola, grown into the stationary phase on a complex growth medium, produced detectable headspace amounts of DMTe, 11 though no time course experiments were carried out. In other work by Fleming and Alexander, 22 a strain of Penicillium amended with tellurium oxyanions produced DMTe. Although it can be supposed that the mechanism for methylating tellurium follows the same metabolic pathway as those for selenium and arsenic, DMTe was produced and detected only in the presence of selenium in that report; therefore, transmethylation could not be ruled out.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…The yield of DMTe was proportional to the input of inorganic selenium, so that no methylated tellurium compound was found until the input quotient of selenium to tellurium was about 10:1. 22 Very little is known of the biogeochemical cycle of tellurium. Alkylated forms of this element apparently form less readily under biogenic conditions than those of selenium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production of dimethyl telluride and elemental tellurium by bacteria amended with tellurite or tellurate

Basnayake

Bius

Akpolat

et al. 2001

Applied Organom Chemis

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The purpose of this study was to determine whether a facultative anaerobe, Pseudomonas fluorescens K27, would produce dimethyl telluride when anaerobic cultures were amended with differing concentrations of sodium tellurate and/or sodium tellurite and how that volatile organotellurium production varied over time. Batch bacterial bioreactor experiments were undertaken in order to observe the changes in the headspace of a growth medium solution inoculated with P. fluorescens and amended with tellurium salts. Gas samples were taken from the bioreactor every hour and were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography using fluorineinduced chemiluminescence detection to determine compounds in the headspace. Liquid samples were analyzed by spectrophotometer to determine optical densities, which were used as an indicator of cell growth. Verification of the identity of the dimethyl telluride produced in the bacterial headspace above a tellurate-amended culture was achieved by comparison with the chromatographic retention time of an authentic (CH 3 ) 2 Te standard and by gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry. The time course production of dimethyl telluride varied with amendment salts' tellurium oxidation states and concentrations. Increasing tellurate concentrations caused slower bacterial growth, but those cultures reached the stationary phase sooner than cultures amended with tellurite concentrations 10 or 100 times less. Black elemental tellurium

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“…The element tellurium which is similar to selenium also undergoes similar transformations in soils. Fungal reduction of tellurate and tellurite to black elemental tellurium has been shown ( Baurista and Alexander 1972;Alexander 1977) and fungi are also capable of methylating inorganic compounds of tellurium to dimethyl telluride ( Fleming and Alexander 1972).…”

Section: (B) Seleniummentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral transformations by fungi in culture and in soils

Wainwright

1981

J Plant Nutrition & Soil

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Although micro‐organisms are regarded as the principal agents of mineral cycling in soils, the role of bacteria has generally been emphasized, while that of fungi has been neglected. Fungi are able to transform the majority of elements in vitro but whether they play an important role in soil is as yet unknown. There is sufficient circumstantial evidence from soil studies to suggest that fungi may under certain conditions nitrify and oxidize reduced forms of sulphur. Their role in denitrification and sulphate reduction process is more speculative. While they appear incapable of nitrogen fixation, fungi undoubtedly play a major role in the mineralization of organic N,P, and S in soils, in the solubilization of insoluble phosphates, and participate in oxidation of manganese. Perhaps one of their most important roles is in the dissolution of silica and rocks thus releasing ions into the soil solution during weathering. The ability of fungi to oxidize elements in vitro does not compare with that of the chemoautotrophic bacteria. On the other hand in vitro activity tells us little about the activity of an organism in the soil. At present our appreciation of the part played by fungi in mineral cycling in soils is limited by the techniques available, but there is little doubt that they have a major role to play in the cycling of elements other than carbon.

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Dimethylselenide and Dimethyltelluride Formation by a Strain of Penicillium

Cited by 82 publications

References 9 publications

Tellurite: history, oxidative stress, and molecular mechanisms of resistance

Tellurite: history, oxidative stress, and molecular mechanisms of resistance

Production of dimethyl telluride and elemental tellurium by bacteria amended with tellurite or tellurate

Mineral transformations by fungi in culture and in soils

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