Desulfurispirillum indicum S5

Desulfurispirillum indicum (strain ATCC BAA-1389 / S5) is a selenate-reducing Gram-negative bacterium. It is able to reduce selenate to selenite and further to insoluble elemental selenium, in a process called dissimilatory selenate reduction. The biogeochemical cycling of selenium in the environment is predominantly governed by microorganisms, which play an important role in oxidation, reduction, methylation and volatilization. Knowledge of how this process of speciation takes place is relevant to studies aimed to develop processes for removal of selenium from polluted soils, and therefore relevant to environmental science and toxicology studies. Studies of the microbial speciation of the metalloids selenium and arsenic are also fundamental to the elucidation of how their role as terminal electron acceptors currently affects geochemical cycles and to what extent this has contributed to determine the chemical composition of Earth. (Adapted from: http://genome.jgi-psf.org/selin/selin.home.html). (EBI Integr8)