Influence of combined pollution of antimony and arsenic on culturable soil microbial populations and enzyme activities

Abstract

The effects of both combined and single pollution of antimony (Sb) and arsenic (As) in different concentrations on culturable soil microbial populations and enzyme activities were studied under laboratory conditions. Joint effects of both Sb and As were different from that of Sb or As alone. The inhibition rate of culturable soil microbial populations under Sb and As pollution followed the order: bacterial > fungi > actinomycetes. There existed antagonistic inhibiting effect on urease and acid phophatase and synergistic inhibiting effect on protease under the combined pollution of Sb (III) and As (III). Only urease appeared to be the most sensitive indicator under Sb (V) and As (V) pollution, and there existed antagonistic inhibiting effect on acid phophatase and synergistic inhibiting effect on urease and protease under Sb (V) and As (V) combined pollution at most time. In this study, we also confirmed that the trivalent states of Sb and As were more toxic to all the microbes tested and more inhibitory on microbial enzyme activities then their pentavalent counterparts. The results also suggest that not only the application rate of the two metalloids but also the chemical form of metalloids should be considered while assessing the effect of metalloid on culturable microbial populations and enzyme activities. Urease and acid phosphatase can be used as potential biomarkers to evaluate the intensity of Sb (III) and As (III) stress.

Metagenomic Approach Reveals Variation of Microbes with Arsenic and Antimony Metabolism Genes from Highly Contaminated Soil

“…And based on Joseph et al [46] report, Gemmatimonadetes , as a previously uncultured soil bacterium, has been isolated under laboratory cultivation. Recently, Wang et al [47] have focused on the study of the inhibition rate of culturable Actinobacteria populations under a compound As and Sb pollution system. Integrating these results with our RDA analysis results, we may deduce that Firmicutes was more related to As bioremediation, while Gemmatimonadetes and Actinobacteria , which have been isolated from the soil environment, can serve as a potential bioremediation in both As and Sb contaminated soil.…”

Soil fungi for mycoremediation of arsenic pollution in agriculture soils

“…Fungi were found least affected amongst all the microbes in a study revealing impact of antimony and arsenic on culturable soil microbial populations (Wang et al . ). Metal‐tolerant microbes can survive in the metal‐polluted soils and can be utilized for bioremediation purposes (Pepi et al .…”

Soil-Plant-Microbial Relations in Hydrothermally Altered Soils of Northern California

“…Thus it appears that micronutrients could be important drivers of microbial activity across a wide climatic range of acid-sulfate impacted soils. Both As and Sb, which have adverse impacts on biota (Murata et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2011), were higher in the altered soils and tended to be negatively correlated with microbial activity.…”