TY - JOUR TI - Characterization of the arsenate and selenate reducing bacterial community of agricultural soils of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3B27S93 PY - 2013 AB - Arsenic and selenium occur as metalloids in the Earth’s crust and microorganisms can utilize the oxyanions of arsenic and selenium as terminal electron acceptors for respiration in the process of dissimilatory reduction. In this study the microbially mediated reduction of selenium and arsenic in agricultural soils of the Mekong River delta, Vietnam was investigated. By employing culture dependent enrichment setup and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) community fingerprinting, we have been able to show the microbially mediated reduction of As and Se oxyanions in agricultural soils and sediments of staple crops such as rice and cabbage. An arsenate and selenate reducing bacterium belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae was isolated from the rice soil irrigated by ground water. Microbially mediated transformations of As and Se may modulate the toxicity of these elements and change their mobility and bioavailability, which affects their translocation and accumulation in plants. This study is providing preliminary information on the role of bacteria in As and Se biotransformation in agricultural soils of the Mekong river delta. KW - Microbial Biology KW - Bacteriology, Agricultural--Mekong River Delta (Vietnam and Cambodia) KW - Soils--Arsenic content--Mekong River Delta (Vietnam and Cambodia) KW - Soils--Selenium content--Mekong River Delta (Vietnam and Cambodia) LA - eng ER -