title: Thiomonas sp. CB2 is able to degrade urea and promote toxic metal precipitation in acid mine drainage waters supplemented with urea.
abstract: The acid mine drainage (AMD) in Carnoulès (France) is characterized by the presence of toxic metals such as arsenic. Several bacterial strains belonging to the Thiomonas genus, which were isolated from this AMD, are able to withstand these conditions. Their genomes carry several genomic islands (GEIs), which are known to be potentially advantageous in some particular ecological niches. This study focused on the role of the "urea island" present in the Thiomonas CB2 strain, which carry the genes involved in urea degradation processes. First, genomic comparisons showed that the genome of Thiomonas sp. CB2, which is able to degrade urea, contains a urea genomic island which is incomplete in the genome of other strains showing no urease activity. The urease activity of Thiomonas sp. CB2 enabled this bacterium to maintain a neutral pH in cell cultures in vitro and prevented the occurrence of cell death during the growth of the bacterium in a chemically defined medium. In AMD water supplemented with urea, the degradation of urea promotes iron, aluminum and arsenic precipitation. Our data show that ureC was expressed in situ, which suggests that the ability to degrade urea may be expressed in some Thiomonas strains in AMD, and that this urease activity may contribute to their survival in contaminated environments.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Farasin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Jérémy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andres
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Hydrosciences Montpellier, UMR 5569, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-UM I, UM II, IRD, Université Montpellier 2, CCMSE Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casiot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire Pour l'Etude des Génomes, CEA-IG-Genoscope Evry, France.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barbe
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7504 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faerber
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Halter
authors.affiliation: Plateforme Métabolomique, UPR2357, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heintz
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koechler
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lièvremont
authors.affiliation: Plateforme Métabolomique, UPR2357, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lugan
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marchal
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Plewniak
authors.affiliation: Hélioparc Pau Pyrénées Pau, France.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seby
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Philippe N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Bertin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique et Microbiologie, UMR7156, Université de Strasbourg - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Botanique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arsène-Ploetze
keywords: acid stress; adaptation; aluminum; arsenic; metabolomics