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3378760 
Journal Article 
Expression of arsenic resistance genes in the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides vulgatus ATCC 8482, a gut microbiome bacterium 
Li, J; Mandal, G; Rosen, BP 
2016 
Yes 
Anaerobe
ISSN: 1075-9964 
39 
117-123 
English 
27040269 
WOS:000377313200020 
The response of the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides vulgatus ATCC 8482, a common human gut microbiota, to arsenic was determined. B. vulgatus ATCC 8482 is highly resistant to pentavalent As(V) and methyl arsenate (MAs(V)). It is somewhat more sensitive to trivalent inorganic As(III) but 100-fold more sensitive to methylarsenite (MAs(III)) than to As(III). B. vulgatus ATCC 8482 has eight continuous genes in its genome that we demonstrate form an arsenical-inducible transcriptional unit. The first gene of this ars operon, arsR, encodes a putative ArsR As(III)-responsive transcriptional repressor. The next three genes encode proteins of unknown function. The remaining genes, arsDABC, have well-characterized roles in detoxification of inorganic arsenic, but there are no known genes for MAs(III) resistance. Expression of each gene after exposure to trivalent and pentavalent inorganic and methylarsenicals was analyzed. MAs(III) was the most effective inducer. The arsD gene was the most highly expressed of the ars operon genes. These results demonstrate that this anaerobic microbiome bacterium has arsenic-responsive genes that confer resistance to inorganic arsenic and may be responsible for the organism's ability to maintain its prevalence in the gut following dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
Bacteroides vulgatus; Arsenic; Methylarsenic; Anaerobe; Microbiome; Regulation