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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution
Published on: December 30, 2021
Development of an enumeration method for arsenic methylating bacteria from mixed culture samples
S M Atiqul Islam1, Kensuke Fukushi, Kazuo Yamamoto
1Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-Ku, 113-8656 Tokyo, Japan. atiqul@env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract:
Bacterial methylation of arsenic converts inorganic arsenic into volatile and non-volatile methylated species. It plays an important role in the arsenic cycle in the environment. Despite the potential environmental significance of AsMB, an assessment of their population size and activity remains unknown. This study has now established a protocol for enumeration of AsMB by means of the anaerobic-culture-tube, most probable number (MPN) method. Direct detection of volatile arsenic species is then done by GC-MS. This method is advantageous as it can simultaneously enumerate AsMB and acetate and formate-utilizing methanogens. The incubation time for this method was determined to be 6 weeks, sufficient time for AsMB growth.
