Volatilization and precipitation of tellurium by aerobic, tellurite-resistant marine microbes.

ABSTRACT: Microbial resistance to tellurite, an oxyanion of tellurium, is widespread in the biosphere, but the geochemical significance of this trait is poorly understood. As some tellurite resistance markers appear to mediate the formation of volatile tellurides, the potential contribution of tellurite-resistant microbial strains to trace element volatilization in salt marsh sediments was evaluated. Microbial strains were isolated aerobically on the basis of tellurite resistance and subsequently examined for their capacity to volatilize tellurium in pure cultures. The tellurite-resistant strains recovered were either yeasts related to marine isolates of Rhodotorula spp. or gram-positive bacteria related to marine strains within the family Bacillaceae based on rRNA gene sequence comparisons. Most st

SUBMITTER: Ollivier PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2592909 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature