Papers by Brian Bustamante
Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 2014
High arsenic groundwater contamination causes serious health risks in many developing countries, ... more High arsenic groundwater contamination causes serious health risks in many developing countries, particularly in India and Bangladesh. The arsenic fluxes in aquifers are primarily controlled by bacterial populations through biogeochemical cycle. In this present study, two gram-positive rodshaped bacteria were isolated from shallow aquifers of Bhojpur district in Bihar during the early winter season, able to withstand arsenite (As 3þ) concentration upto 70 mM and 1000 mM of arsenate (As 5þ) concentration. They showed high resistance to heavy metals up to 30 mM and utilized some complex sugars along with different carbon sources. Growth at wide range of temperature, pH and salinity were observed. Both these isolates showed high efficiency in converting As 3þ into less toxic concentrations of As 5þ respectively from arsenic enriched culture media. Along with superior arsenic transformation and arsenic resistance abilities, the isolates showed a wide variety of metabolic capacity in terms of utilizing a variety of carbon sources under aerobic conditions, respectively. This study reports the potential As 3þ-oxidizing bacteria that can play an important role in subsurface arsenic transformation that will aid in designing future bioremediation strategy for the arsenic affected areas.
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Papers by Brian Bustamante