Analyzing differential distribution Of Dissimilatory Arsenate Reducing
Bacterial Community along depths of Aquifers in Bengal Delta Plain.
Abstract
Groundwater contamination with geogenic arsenic poses a major health
risk to millions of people throughout the world. Among various group of
microbes, dissimilatory arsenate reducing bacteria (DARB) are considered
to be primarily responsible for arsenic mobilization in anaerobic
environments of deep underground aquifer sediments. This group of
microbes carries out enzyme catalyzed conversion of more immobilized and
less toxic arsenate [As (V)] to more soluble and more toxic arsenite
[As (III)]. Aquifers are deep subsurface layers of rocks, sand or
soil capable of storing and transmitting water. These are potential
environments for arsenic mobilization by anaerobic dissimilatory
arsenate reducing bacteria (DARB). Study of these bacteria has been
restricted to culture based microcosm studies, which suffers from
several drawbacks like inappropriate simulation of ecological factors,
exclusion of unculturable members, inappropriate elucidation of
community behavior etc. With the recent advent of culture independent
molecular analysis, more wholesome analysis of microbial community in
diverse ecological habitats has become possible. Anaerobic dissimilatory
As(V) reduction is catalyzed by the periplasmic arsenate respiratory
reductase (Arr) complex, which consists of a large catalytic subunit
(ArrA) and a small subunit (ArrB). arrA gene encoding large subunit of
the reductase can be used as a reliable marker for arsenate respiration.
Our study is a preliminary attempt to isolate community DNA from aquifer
sediments collected from various depths and study the differential
distribution of arrA in community genome at various depths. We had
successfully isolated humic contaminant free community DNA from aquifer
sediments and subjected them to PCR amplification with arrA gene
specific primers. The amplicons obtained from community DNA of various
depths were subsequently sublected to RFLP analysis by HaeIII and the
restriction patterns was compared. The study revealed differential
distribution of arrA containing DARB population at various depths of
aquifer sediments.