Diversity of arsenite oxidase gene and arsenotrophic bacteria in arsenic affected Bangladesh soils

Arsenic (As) contaminated soils are enriched with arsenotrophic bacteria. The present study analyzes the microbiome and arsenotrophic genes-from As affected soil samples of Bhanga, Charvadrason and Sadarpur of Faridpur district in Bangladesh in summer (SFDSL1, 2, 3) and in winter (WFDSL1, 2, 3). Total As content of the soils was within the range of 3.24-17.8 mg/kg as per atomic absorption spectroscopy. The aioA gene, conferring arsenite [As (III)] oxidation, was retrieved from the soil sample, WFDSL-2, reported with As concentration of 4.9 mg/kg. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the aioA genes of soil WFDSL-2 were distributed among four major phylogenetic lineages comprised of α, β, γ Proteobacteria and Archaea with a dominance of β Proteobacteria (56.67 %). An attempt to enrich…