Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters
Abstract Mining operations produce large quantities of wastewater. At a mine site in Northern Finland, two natural peatlands are used for the treatment of mining‐influenced waters with high concentrations of sulphate and potentially toxic arsenic (As). In the present study, As removal and the involv...
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ftunivoulu:oai:oulu.fi:nbnfi-fe2020060540786 2023-07-30T04:05:49+02:00 Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters Kujala, K. (Katharina) Besold, J. (Johannes) Mikkonen, A. (Anu) Tiirola, M. (Marja) Planer‐Friedrich, B. (Britta) 2020 application/pdf http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2020060540786 eng eng John Wiley & Sons info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess © 2020 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2020 ftunivoulu 2023-07-08T19:56:51Z Abstract Mining operations produce large quantities of wastewater. At a mine site in Northern Finland, two natural peatlands are used for the treatment of mining‐influenced waters with high concentrations of sulphate and potentially toxic arsenic (As). In the present study, As removal and the involved microbial processes in those treatment peatlands (TPs) were assessed. Arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms were abundant in peat soil from both TPs (up to 108 cells gdw−1), with arsenate respirers being about 100 times more abundant than arsenite oxidizers. In uninhibited microcosm incubations, supplemented arsenite was oxidized under oxic conditions and supplemented arsenate was reduced under anoxic conditions, while little to no oxidation/reduction was observed in NaN3‐inhibited microcosms, indicating high As‐turnover potential of peat microbes. Formation of thioarsenates was observed in anoxic microcosms. Sequencing of the functional genemarkers aioA (arsenite oxidizers), arrA (arsenate respirers) and arsC (detoxifying arsenate reducers) demonstrated high diversity of the As‐metabolizing microbial community. The microbial community composition differed between the two TPs, which may have affected As removal efficiencies. In the present situation, arsenate reduction is likely the dominant net process and contributes substantially to As removal. Changes in TP usage (e.g. mine closure) with lowered water tables and heightened oxygen availability in peat might lead to re‐oxidation and re‐mobilization of bound arsenite. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Finland Jultika - University of Oulu repository |
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Jultika - University of Oulu repository |
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English |
description |
Abstract Mining operations produce large quantities of wastewater. At a mine site in Northern Finland, two natural peatlands are used for the treatment of mining‐influenced waters with high concentrations of sulphate and potentially toxic arsenic (As). In the present study, As removal and the involved microbial processes in those treatment peatlands (TPs) were assessed. Arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms were abundant in peat soil from both TPs (up to 108 cells gdw−1), with arsenate respirers being about 100 times more abundant than arsenite oxidizers. In uninhibited microcosm incubations, supplemented arsenite was oxidized under oxic conditions and supplemented arsenate was reduced under anoxic conditions, while little to no oxidation/reduction was observed in NaN3‐inhibited microcosms, indicating high As‐turnover potential of peat microbes. Formation of thioarsenates was observed in anoxic microcosms. Sequencing of the functional genemarkers aioA (arsenite oxidizers), arrA (arsenate respirers) and arsC (detoxifying arsenate reducers) demonstrated high diversity of the As‐metabolizing microbial community. The microbial community composition differed between the two TPs, which may have affected As removal efficiencies. In the present situation, arsenate reduction is likely the dominant net process and contributes substantially to As removal. Changes in TP usage (e.g. mine closure) with lowered water tables and heightened oxygen availability in peat might lead to re‐oxidation and re‐mobilization of bound arsenite. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kujala, K. (Katharina) Besold, J. (Johannes) Mikkonen, A. (Anu) Tiirola, M. (Marja) Planer‐Friedrich, B. (Britta) |
spellingShingle |
Kujala, K. (Katharina) Besold, J. (Johannes) Mikkonen, A. (Anu) Tiirola, M. (Marja) Planer‐Friedrich, B. (Britta) Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
author_facet |
Kujala, K. (Katharina) Besold, J. (Johannes) Mikkonen, A. (Anu) Tiirola, M. (Marja) Planer‐Friedrich, B. (Britta) |
author_sort |
Kujala, K. (Katharina) |
title |
Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
title_short |
Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
title_full |
Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
title_fullStr |
Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
title_sort |
abundant and diverse arsenic‐metabolizing microorganisms in peatlands treating arsenic‐contaminated mining wastewaters |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2020060540786 |
genre |
Northern Finland |
genre_facet |
Northern Finland |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess © 2020 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
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1772818030110179328 |