title: Arsenic Methylation and its Relationship to Abundance and Diversity of arsM Genes in Composting Manure.
abstract: Although methylation is regarded as one of the main detoxification pathways for arsenic (As), current knowledge about this process during manure composting remains limited. In this study, two pilot-scale compost piles were established to treat manure contaminated with As. An overall accumulation of methylated As occurred during 60 day-composting time. The concentration of monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) increased from 6 to 190 μg kg-1within 15 days and decreased to 35 μg kg-1at the end of the maturing phase; while the concentration of dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) continuously increased from 33 to 595 μg kg-1over the composting time. The arsM gene copies increased gradually from 0.08 × 109to 6.82 × 109copies g-1dry mass over time and correlated positively to the concentrations of methylated As. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and arsM clone library analysis confirmed the high abundance and diversity of arsM genes. Many of these genes were related to those from known As-methylating microbes, including Streptomyces sp., Amycolatopsis mediterranei and Sphaerobacter thermophiles. These results demonstrated that As methylation during manure composting is significant and, for the first time, established a linkage between As biomethylation and the abundance and diversity of the arsM functional genes in composting manure.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Mabel T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Meteorology, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad Campus, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Hashmi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Xingmei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.|Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Xianjin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000378:metabolism*; D001152:Arsenicals / Q000378:metabolism; D002101:Cacodylic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D041862:Chloroflexi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000076282:Composting; D018628:Gene Dosage; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology; D008745:Methylation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001152:Arsenicals; D008372:Manure; D002101:Cacodylic Acid; C020300:monomethylarsonic acid; D001151:Arsenic