Role of microbial reducing activity in antimony and arsenic release from an unpolluted wetland soil: a lab scale study using sodium azide as a microbial inhibiting agent

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmaa Rouwane ◽  
Marion Rabiet ◽  
Isabelle Bourven ◽  
Malgorzata Grybos ◽  
Lucie Mallet ◽  
...  

Environmental contextAntimony and arsenic are toxic elements occurring naturally in the environment. We found that arsenic release to water from an unpolluted wetland soil is related to microbial reducing activity only, whereas antimony can still be released when this activity is inhibited, suggesting the involvement of additional processes. The findings show that microbial/non-microbial mechanisms control arsenic and antimony release and can thereby impact water quality at wetland outlets. AbstractIn wetland soils, the mobility of geogenic metal(loid)s is usually associated with direct or indirect microbial-induced processes (solubilisation of mineral and organic components, pH induced desorption, competition effects, dissimilatory reduction). To identify the role of microbial reducing activity in As and Sb release, we conducted two series of soil incubations (sodium azide-treated (NaN3-T) and non-treated (NT)) in closed batches for 36 days. During the incubation period, we monitored the evolution of dissolved As, Sb, Mn, FeII, organic carbon (DOC), humic substances (HS) and proteins (PN) with their apparent molecular weight distribution (aMW) as well as pH, reduction potential (Eh) and alkalinity. Results showed that the release of As and Sb occurred when microbially reducing conditions prevailed (NT soil Eh ~0mV and FeII>40mg L–1) and was inhibited for As in the absence of microbial reducing activity (NaN3-T soil; Eh>250mV and Fe<1mg L–1). In contrast, Sb behaved differently since its release was only slowed down when microbially reducing conditions were inhibited. We concluded that soil microbial reducing activity fully controls the release of As and to a lesser extent that of Sb when NaN3 is used as a microbial inhibiting agent. Since Sb release and dissolved organic matter (DOM) solubilisation (NaN3-induced artefact) occurred simultaneously in the absence of microbially reducing conditions, we concluded that organic matter could be one key factor controlling Sb mobilisation in the given conditions, which is not the case for As.

Soil Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmaa Rouwane ◽  
Malgorzata Grybos ◽  
Isabelle Bourven ◽  
Marion Rabiet ◽  
Gilles Guibaud

The release of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from wetland soils is an important pathway for the input of organic compounds into adjacent aquatic environments. In the present study we investigated, under controlled laboratory conditions, the quantity and quality of DOM released from a wetland soil subject to waterlogging and reducing conditions. Three soil redox conditions (oxic, moderately reducing and advanced reducing) were distinguished based on nitrate, ferrous ions and sulfate concentrations in soil solution. Under each redox condition, the quantity (dissolved organic carbon (DOC), humic substances and peptides plus proteins (P-PN) and quality (aromaticity; specific ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA254nm)) and apparent molecular weight (aMW) distribution) of DOM were investigated. The results showed that soil redox condition affects the amount and properties of mobilised DOM. The rate of DOM release and SUVA254 values were highest during the transition from oxic to moderately reducing conditions, whereas both stabilised during progression to advanced reducing conditions. In addition, the mobilised DOM is expected to be more reactive because of an increase in polar substituents in aromatic structures between oxic and moderately reducing conditions. During the development of moderately reducing conditions, dissolved humic substances increased significantly, whereas their aMW distribution (between 500 and 6000 ) remained constant for each of the three different redox conditions. In contrast, the quantity of dissolved P-PN remained low and steady under the three redox conditions, whereas the aMW distribution of protein-like and microbial by-product-like compounds decreased during the development of reducing conditions (aMW of compounds between 100 and >100 000).


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget B. McGivern ◽  
Malak M. Tfaily ◽  
Mikayla A. Borton ◽  
Suzanne M. Kosina ◽  
Rebecca A. Daly ◽  
...  

AbstractMicroorganisms play vital roles in modulating organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling in soil ecosystems. The enzyme latch paradigm posits microbial degradation of polyphenols is hindered in anoxic peat leading to polyphenol accumulation, and consequently diminished microbial activity. This model assumes that polyphenols are microbially unavailable under anoxia, a supposition that has not been thoroughly investigated in any soil type. Here, we use anoxic soil reactors amended with and without a chemically defined polyphenol to test this hypothesis, employing metabolomics and genome-resolved metaproteomics to interrogate soil microbial polyphenol metabolism. Challenging the idea that polyphenols are not bioavailable under anoxia, we provide metabolite evidence that polyphenols are depolymerized, resulting in monomer accumulation, followed by the generation of small phenolic degradation products. Further, we show that soil microbiome function is maintained, and possibly enhanced, with polyphenol addition. In summary, this study provides chemical and enzymatic evidence that some soil microbiota can degrade polyphenols under anoxia and subvert the assumed polyphenol lock on soil microbial metabolism.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 377-411
Author(s):  
David Powlson ◽  
Phil Brookes

David Jenkinson was one of the most influential soil scientists of his generation, bringing new insights into the transformations of organic matter and nitrogen in soil. He spent the majority of his career at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK. His studies were influential regarding the role of soil carbon stocks in the context of climate change and the role of nitrogen fertilizer in delivering adequate supplies of food for a growing world population. His research encompassed both fundamental studies on soil processes and immensely practical applications of this knowledge, often utilizing the Rothamsted long-term experiments that have run for over 170 years. He is particularly well known for his development of a method for determining the quantity of organic carbon held in the cells of living micro-organisms in soil, termed the ‘soil microbial biomass’. This breakthrough opened the way for a new wave of soil biological research. David developed one of the earliest computer models for the turnover of organic carbon in soil, known as the Rothamsted Carbon Model, RothC. This model, conceptually very simple, has proved highly successful in simulating and predicting changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) content under different management practices worldwide, being used by over 2600 people in 115 countries. His research using the stable isotope of nitrogen, 15 N, in large-scale field experiments drew attention to the factors leading to inefficiencies in the use of nitrogen fertilizer but also demonstrated that it is possible to achieve high efficiency if good agricultural management practices are followed. It also demonstrated, more clearly than previously, the great importance of soil organic matter as a source of nitrogen for crops and the role of the soil microbial biomass both in immobilizing a proportion of applied fertilizer nitrogen and also in causing confusion in the interpretation of such experiments. By calculating nitrogen budgets for the Rothamsted long-term experiments he quantified the deposition of nitrogen compounds from atmosphere to land, laying foundations for later studies concerning the ecological and agricultural impacts of this significant input of nitrogen.


1968 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pesonen ◽  
M. Ikonen ◽  
B-J. Procopé ◽  
A. Saure

ABSTRACT The ovaries of ten patients, at least one year after the post-menopause, were incubated with two Δ5-C19-steroids and also studied histochemically. All these patients had post-menopausal uterine bleeding and increased oestrogen excretion of the urine. The urinary estimations of gonadotrophins, 17-KS, 17-OHCS and pregnanediol were carried out on all patients. Vaginal smears were read according to Papanicolaou, and the endometrium and ovaries were studied histologically. The incubation experiments indicate the presence of Δ5-3β-hydroxysteroid-dehydrogenase. When androst-5-ene-3β,17β-diol was used as precursor the formation of testosterone occurred without any concomitant production of DHA and/or androstenedione. This seems to indicate the possible role of the Δ5-pathway in the formation of testosterone by post-menopausal ovarian tissue. The histochemical reactions indicated a reducing activity on NADH, lactate and glucose-6-phosphate, in certain corpora albicantia, atretic follicles and in diffuse thecoma regions in the cortical layer of the ovary. Steroid-3β-ol-dehydrogenase and β-hydroxybutyrate-dehydrogenase were found only at the edges of certain corpora albicantia, in some individual stroma cell groups and in some atretic follicles. Our studies, both biochemical and histochemical, suggest that the observed increase in the urinary oestrogens of the patients studied might in part at least, be of ovarian origin. This opinion is also supported by the postoperative oestrogen values.


Author(s):  
Ирина Викторовна Евстафьева

В статье исследуются вопросы попечительства в отношении несовершеннолетних, отбывающих наказание в виде лишения свободы. Проблема, поднимаемая автором настоящей статьи, многогранна, касается различных аспектов отбывания наказания несовершеннолетними в воспитательных колониях и требует комплексного исследования, способного ответить на определенно значимый вопрос: является ли колония законным представителем находящихся в ней несовершеннолетних со всеми вытекающими из статуса законных представителей последствиями. При этом необходимо обращать внимание на специфику правового статуса лиц, отбывающих наказание в воспитательных колониях, которые, во-первых, являются несовершеннолетними, то есть не обладают дееспособностью в полном объеме и нуждаются в особой заботе, защите и представительстве, а во-вторых, осуждены за совершение тяжкого или особо тяжкого преступления, влекущего изоляцию от общества и определенные ограничения и лишения. Отечественное законодательство достаточно детально регламентирует особенности режима отбывания наказания в виде лишения свободы несовершеннолетними, не определяя при этом статуса воспитательных колоний, кем они являются: воспитателями, попечителями или исключительно учреждениями исполнения наказаний. Между тем правильное понимание значения и роли воспитательной колонии в жизни находящихся в ней несовершеннолетних преступников, по мнению автора, поможет избежать ряда проблем, объективно складывающихся в учреждениях подобного рода. С этой точки зрения предлагаемая тема представляет интерес не только для ученых-теоретиков, но и для практиков - сотрудников соответствующих учреждений. Особо следует подчеркнуть, что исследований по данной тематике в специальной литературе нет. Отдельные исследования, встречающиеся в современной литературе, касаются исключительно общего гражданско-правового статуса несовершеннолетних осужденных. Однако это обстоятельство может свидетельствовать только о новизне данной темы, но никак не об отсутствии самой проблемы. The article analyzes the issues of the status of educational colonies as guardians of minors serving a sentence of imprisonment. In fact, the problem raised by the author of this article is multifaceted, concerns various aspects of the serving of punishment by minors in educational colonies and requires a comprehensive study that can answer, it seems, a definitely significant question: whether the colony is the legal representative of the minors in it with all the consequences arising from the status of legal representatives in the form of duties and responsibilities. At the same time, it seems, it is necessary to pay attention to the specifics of the legal status of citizens serving sentences in educational colonies, who, firstly, are minors, i.e. do not have full legal capacity and need special care, protection and representation, and, secondly, are convicted of committing a serious or particularly serious crime, entailing isolation from society and certain restrictions and deprivation. Domestic legislation regulates in sufficient detail the peculiarities of the regime of serving sentences in the form of deprivation of liberty by minors, without determining the status of educational colonies. Who are they: educators, Trustees or only institutions of execution of punishments. Meanwhile, the correct understanding of the importance and role of the educational colony in the life of juvenile offenders in it, according to the author, will help to avoid a number of problems that objectively develop in institutions of this kind. From this point of view, the proposed topic is of interest not only for theoretical scientists, but for practitioners-employees of relevant institutions. It should be emphasized that there are no studies on this subject in the special literature. However, this circumstance can testify only about novelty of the given subject, but in any way about absence of the problem. It seems that the relevance and importance of a problem is not always measured by the number of studies devoted to it. Sometimes these its traits are manifest only under particularly careful consideration.


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