Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Arch Microbiol DOI 10.1007/s00203-017-1438-2 ORIGINAL PAPER A comparative analysis of tellurite detoxifcation by members of the genus Shewanella M. A. Valdivia‑González 1,2  · W. A. Díaz‑Vásquez 3  · D. Ruiz‑León 4  · A. A. Becerra 5  · D. R. Aguayo 6  · J. M. Pérez‑Donoso 7  · C. C. Vásquez 1   Received: 28 July 2017 / Revised: 25 September 2017 / Accepted: 5 October 2017 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 transformation was associated with tellurium precipitation as tellurium dioxide. In summary, this work highlights the high tellurite reduction/detoxifcation ability exhibited by a number of Shewanella species, which could represent the starting point to develop friendly methods for the recovery of elemental tellurium (or tellurium dioxide). Keywords Shewanella · Tellurium · Tellurite · Antarctic · Heavy metals Introduction Tellurium and its derivatives have been widely used in the oil-refning, electronic, optics, and sensor-generating indus- tries (Sen et al. 2009; Tang et al. 2006; Turner et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2011). Elemental tellurium (Te 0 ) is a relatively stable, water insoluble metalloid that displays low bioavail- ability and toxicity. Conversely, the tellurium oxyanion, tel- lurite (TeO 3 2− ), is water soluble and extremely harmful to most microorganisms, mainly Gram-negative bacteria. For instance, concentrations as low as 4 µM inhibit Escherichia coli growth (Taylor 1999; Chasteen et al. 2009). However, there are some Gram-negative bacteria isolated from Ant- arctica that are tellurite resistant, including members of the genus Acinetobacter and Psychrobacter (Arenas et al. 2014). Although TeO 3 2− can be toxic per se (Morales et al. 2017), the oxidative stress that is generated during tellurite reduction to elemental tellurium (Te 0 ) under aerobic condi- tions seems to be the main responsible for tellurite toxicity (Chasteen et al. 2009; Pérez et al. 2007). Under anaero- bic conditions, where reactive oxygen species (ROS) are not generated (Imlay 2013), TeO 3 2− can also kill E. coli, although the toxicant’s MIC is 10-fold higher (Tantaleán et al. 2003). Abstract The increasing industrial utilization of tellu- rium has resulted in an important environmental pollution with the soluble, extremely toxic oxyanion tellurite. In this context, the use of microorganisms for detoxifying tellur- ite or tellurium biorecovery has gained great interest. The ability of diferent Shewanella strains to reduce tellurite to elemental tellurium was assessed; the results showed that the reduction process is dependent on electron transport and the ∆pH gradient. While S. baltica OS155 showed the highest tellurite resistance, S. putrefaciens was the most ef- cient in reducing tellurite. Moreover, pH-dependent tellurite Communicated by Jorge Membrillo-Hernández. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00203-017-1438-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * C. C. Vásquez claudio.vasquez@usach.cl 1 Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins #3363. Estación Central, Santiago, Chile 2 Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Central de Chile, Santiago, Chile 3 Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad San Sebastián, Providencia, Chile 4 Departamento de Química de los Materiales, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile 5 Facultad de Salud, Deporte y Recreación, Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago, Chile 6 Molecular Biophysics and Bionformatics Group, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile 7 BioNanotechnology and Microbiology Laboratory, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile