Bacillus safensis JG-B5T affects the fate of selenium

Selenium is toxic to aquatic organisms even at µg L−1 range concentration. Further, the toxicity of selenium not only depends on its concentration but also on speciation. Thus, understanding the fate of the selenium in the environment is important. Micro-organisms are known to affect the speciation and hence mobility of selenium. This study, for the first time, evaluated the interaction of selenium oxyanions and strain Bacillus safensis JG-B5T, which was isolated from the Haberland uranium waste pile in Johanngeorgenstadt (Saxony) in 1997. The study showed that the B. safensis JG-B5T can reduce selenite, but not selenate, to selenium nanoparticles. Further, the growth of B. safensis JG-B5T is not affected by the presence of 2.5 mM of selenate and observed a lag of 8 h in presence of 2.5 mM selenite. The high resolution time-dependent TEM images has suggested that the extracellular production of Se NPs. The genomic data has pointed to the role of membrane associated reductases or extracellular reducing mechanism for the reduction of selenite. The high mobility, due to the presence of protein corona and negative zeta potential, and extracellular origin of Se NPs make them mobile. Thus, B. safensis JG-B5T can change the speciation and mobility of dissolved selenite and affect the fate of selenium in the environment.