Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Adsorption of selenite onto Bacillus subtilis: the overlooked role of cell envelope sulfhydryl sites in the microbial conversion of Se(IV)

Journal Article · · Environmental Science and Technology
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
  2. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria). Inst. of Chemical Engineering; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Biosciences Division
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Biosciences Division
+ Show Author Affiliations

Microbial activities play a central role in the global cycling of selenium. Microorganisms can reduce, methylate and assimilate Se, controlling the transport and fate of Se in the environment. However, the mechanisms controlling these microbial activities are still poorly understood. In particular, it is unknown how the negatively-charged Se(IV) and Se(VI) oxyanions that dominate the aqueous Se speciation in oxidizing environments bind to negatively-charged microbial cell surfaces in order to become bioavailable. Here, we show that the adsorption of selenite onto Bacillus subtilis bacterial cells is controlled by cell envelope sulfhydryl sites. Once adsorbed onto the bacteria, selenite is reduced, and forms reduced organo-Se compounds (e.g., R1S-Se-SR2). Because sulfhydryl sites are present within cell envelopes of a wide range of bacterial species, sulfhydryl-controlled adsorption of selenite likely represents a general mechanism adopted by bacteria to make selenite bioavailable. Therefore, sulfhydryl binding of selenite likely occurs in a wide range of oxidized Se-bearing environments, and because it is followed by microbial conversion of selenite to other Se species, the process represents a crucial step in the global cycling of Se.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; EAR-1424950
OSTI ID:
1493698
Journal Information:
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 52, Issue 18; ISSN 0013-936X
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 28 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (52)

Bacterial reduction of selenite to elemental selenium journal October 1996
Microbial Oxidation of Elemental Selenium in Soil Slurries and Bacterial Cultures journal December 1998
Environmental Selenium Research: From Microscopic Processes to Global Understanding journal December 2011
Microbial Transformations of Selenium and the Bioremediation of Seleniferous Environments journal July 1999
Biogenic selenium nanoparticles: current status and future prospects journal January 2016
Isolation and characterization of a novel selenate-reducing bacterium, Bacillus sp. SF-1 journal January 1997
Biomineralization of selenium by the selenate-respiring bacterium Thauera selenatis journal November 2012
Transformations of selenate and selenite by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated from a seleniferous agricultural drainage pond sediment journal April 2003
Production of selenium nanoparticles in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 journal November 2016
Selenite reduction by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is mediated by fumarate reductase in periplasm journal January 2014
Selenite-reducing capacity of the copper-containing nitrite reductase of Rhizobium sullae journal April 2007
Biotransformation and detoxification of selenite by microbial biogenesis of selenium-sulfur nanoparticles journal February 2018
Similarities between the Abiotic Reduction of Selenite with Glutathione and the Dissimilatory Reaction Mediated by Rhodospirillum rubrum and Escherichia coli journal December 2004
Pyridine-2,6-Bis(Thiocarboxylic Acid) Produced by Pseudomonas stutzeri KC Reduces and Precipitates Selenium and Tellurium Oxyanions journal May 2006
A critical review of thermodynamic data for selenium species at 25°C journal January 2001
The binding of heavy metals to algal surfaces journal July 1988
A chemical equilibrium model for metal adsorption onto bacterial surfaces journal August 1997
Sites of metal deposition in the cell wall of Bacillus subtilis. journal January 1980
Zinc Sorption to Three Gram-Negative Bacteria:  Combined Titration, Modeling, and EXAFS Study journal March 2006
High- and low-affinity binding sites for Cd on the bacterial cell walls of Bacillus subtilis and Shewanella oneidensis journal August 2010
An experimental study of Au removal from solution by non-metabolizing bacterial cells and their exudates journal June 2012
Experimental study of humic acid adsorption onto bacteria and Al-oxide mineral surfaces journal November 1999
Microbial Selenate Sorption and Reduction in Nutrient Limited Systems journal May 2006
The Chemistry and Toxicity of Selenium Compounds, with Special Reference to the Selenium Problem. journal April 1941
Mechanism of the reaction of thiols with selenite journal June 1980
Bacillithiol, a New Player in Bacterial Redox Homeostasis journal July 2011
Controls on Bacterial Cell Envelope Sulfhydryl Site Concentrations: The Effect of Glucose Concentration During Growth journal June 2017
Characterization of sulfhydryl sites within bacterial cell envelopes using selective site-blocking and potentiometric titrations journal May 2014
Sulfhydryl Binding Sites within Bacterial Extracellular Polymeric Substances journal May 2016
Estimation of Reactive Thiol Concentrations in Dissolved Organic Matter and Bacterial Cell Membranes in Aquatic Systems journal August 2012
The New MRCAT (Sector 10) Bending Magnet Beamline at the Advanced Photon Source
  • Kropf, A. J.; Katsoudas, J.; Chattopadhyay, S.
  • SRI 2009, 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3463194
conference January 2010
The elimination of selenium(IV) from aqueous solution by precipitation with sodium sulfide journal January 2011
Uptake, Distribution, and Speciation of Selenoamino Acids by Human Cancer Cells: X-ray Absorption and Fluorescence Methods journal March 2011
Chemical Forms of Selenium in the Metal-Resistant Bacterium Ralstonia metallidurans CH34 Exposed to Selenite and Selenate journal May 2005
Quantitative Speciation of Selenium in Soils Using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy journal September 1995
Near-edge x-ray-absorption fine structure of Pb: A comparison of theory and experiment journal June 1993
Selenite removal and reduction by growing Aspergillus sp. J2 journal November 2017
Characterizing Heterogeneous Bacterial Surface Functional Groups Using Discrete Affinity Spectra for Proton Binding journal December 1999
Elucidation of Functional Groups on Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacterial Surfaces Using Infrared Spectroscopy journal November 2004
Delayed formation of zero-valent selenium nanoparticles by Bacillus mycoides SeITE01 as a consequence of selenite reduction under aerobic conditions journal January 2014
Microbial transformations of selenite by methane-oxidizing bacteria journal June 2017
Selenium (IV,VI) reduction and tolerance by fungi in an oxic environment journal January 2017
Experimental measurements of the reversibility of metal–bacteria adsorption reactions journal July 2000
Micro-spectroscopic investigation of selenium-bearing minerals from the Western US Phosphate Resource Area journal January 2005
Fate of Selenate and Selenite Metabolized by Rhodobacter sphaeroides journal November 2000
Correlative Cryogenic Spectromicroscopy to Investigate Selenium Bioreduction Products journal December 2017
Zum redoxsensitiven Verhalten von Selenit in Gegenwart reaktiver Sauerstoffspezies journal October 1999
NO-mediated cytoprotection: Instant adaptation to oxidative stress in bacteria journal September 2005
Kinetics of Oxidation of Selenite to Selenate in the Presence of Oxygen, Titania, and Light journal March 1995
Elucidation of the Mechanism of Reaction between S 2 O 8 2– , Selenite and Mn 2+ in Aqueous Solution and Limestone-Gypsum FGD Liquor journal September 2013
Biomimetic Synthesis of Selenium Nanospheres by Bacterial Strain JS-11 and Its Role as a Biosensor for Nanotoxicity Assessment: A Novel Se-Bioassay journal March 2013
Influence of pH, salinity, and selenium on the growth of Aeromonas veronii in evaporation agricultural drainage water journal February 1996

Cited By (3)

Methylmercury and selenium interactions: Mechanisms and implications for soil remediation journal April 2019
A Mechanistic Study of Au(III) Removal from Solution by Bacillus subtilis journal February 2019
Evaluation of effects of selenium nanoparticles on Bacillus subtilis journal November 2019

Figures / Tables (6)

Figure 1(p. 11)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 13)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 15)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 17)figure Figure 4
Table 1(p. 18)table Table 1
Figure 5(p. 20)figure Figure 5

Similar Records

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES