title: Diversity of arsenate reductase genes (arsC Genes) from arsenic-resistant environmental isolates of E. coli.
abstract: A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach was used to assess the occurrence and diversity of arsenate reductase gene (arsC gene) in arsenic-resistant environmental E. coli strains. For this purpose, two different sets of primers were designed for the specific amplification of approximately 370-bp fragments from the arsC gene. These primers were used to screen a collection of 25 environmental arsenic-resistant strains isolated from different geographical regions of India, as well as Bangladesh. The PCR results showed that 17 out of the 25 environmental isolates (68%) contained a gene related to the arsC family. Phylogenetic analysis of the protein sequences deduced from the amplicons indicated a prevalence of arsC genes in the isolated strains. A significant divergence in the DNA sequence was found in the arsC genes among As-resistant environmental E. coli strains from this study, and arsenic resistance, a genetic character, arose from a common ancestral background.
authors.affiliation: Gene Expression Laboratory, Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India. singhrp12@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Sukhvinder
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: Majid Rasool
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kamli
authors.forename: Arif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D053502:Arsenate Reductases / Q000235:genetics*; D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D001459:Bangladesh; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007194:India; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D053502:Arsenate Reductases; D001151:Arsenic