砷的微生物转化及其在环境与医学应用中的研究进展

Progress on microbial transformation of arsenic and its application in environmental and medical sciences - A Review

摘要:

砷广泛分布于自然界中, 近年来砷污染及砷中毒事件在全球范围内的频繁发生, 严重威胁着全球上千万人口的健康。砷的迁移与转化等地球化学行为的研究对探明环境中砷的来源以及砷污染整治的方法至关重要。越来越多的研究表明, 自然界中的微生物广泛参与了砷的地球化学循环, 在砷的迁移与转化过程中起到关键作用。综述了近年来砷的微生物转化及其相关酶类与编码基因等的研究进展, 同时结合作者的工作分析与展望了砷的微生物转化在环境与医学中的应用前景。

Abstract:

Arsenic is widely distributed in the environment. As teratogen, carcinogen or mutagen, it has extremely toxic effect on mammalian health. Recently, as the outbreaks of arsenicosis in many countries such as Bangladesh and China, arsenic toxicity or pollution has been a global problem, severely threatening tens of millions of people’s health. Therefore, studies on the transfer of arsenic toxicity or pollution are important. The threat of pollution and toxicity from the dispersal of naturally occurring and anthropogenic arsenic stimulated extensive studies focusing on the geochemical behaviors, such as mobilization and transformation of arsenic. More evidences suggest that microbes play an important role in the geo-chemical circulation of arsenic. Some microorganisms have evolved to tolerate relatively high concentrations of arsenic by methylation and/or redox. These microbial processes, together with inorganic and physical processes, constitute the global cycle of arsenic. In this article, we review the diversity of microorganisms known to interact with arsenic, and the genes and enzymes involved in these processes. We also briefly discuss the application of arsenic bio-transformation is . Finally, according to the studies in our laboratory, we propose the potential application in medical sciences and its future pros-pects.