Reduction of selenite to elemental red selenium by Rhizobium sp. strain B1.

A bacterium that reduces the soluble and toxic selenite anion to insoluble elemental red selenium (Se(0)) was isolated from a laboratory bioreactor. Biochemical, morphological, and 16S rRNA gene sequence alignment identified the isolate as a Rhizobium sp. that is related to but is genetically divergent from R. radiobacter (syn. Agrobacterium tumefaciens) or R. rubi (syn. A. rubi). The isolate was capable of denitrification and reduced selenite to Se(0) under aerobic and denitrifying conditions. It did not reduce selenate and did not use selenite or selenate as terminal e(-) donors. Native gel electrophoresis revealed two bands, corresponding to molecular weights of approximately 100 and approximately 45 kDa, that reduced selenite. Tungsten inhibited in vivo selenite reduction, suggesting that a molybdenum-containing protein is involved in selenite reduction. This organism, or its enzymes or DNA, might be useful in bioreactors designed to remove selenite from water.