The arsenic chemical species proportion and viral arsenic biotransformation genes composition affects lysogenic phage treatment under arsenic stress

Abstract When temperate phages and their hosts have a consistent interest, they are considered reciprocal. Based on the bacterium-phage collaboration, lysogenic phage treatment is a promising method to resist pollution through lysogenic phage reshaping indigenous microbial communities to maintain their ecological function under environmental stress. However, the potential factors affecting the establishment of bacterium-phage collaboration are still poorly understood. Here, lysogenic phages carrying arsenic biotransformation genes (ABGs) were induced from the enriched arsenic-resistant microorganisms (from arsenic-contaminated sites). The diversity analysis of viral arsC and arsM demonstrated that arsM tended to proliferate rapidly under high arsenic levels, and the transduction of arsM might be the key to lysogenic phages to help the hosts relieve the stress of high arsenic. Microcosm experiments confirmed that with the increase of the As(III) content (0% to 50%, of 200 mg/kg total arsenic) in the soil, inoculation of lysogenic phages with both arsC and arsM resulted in more transduction of arsM (0.06 ± 0.007 to 0.23 ± 0.024 per 16S rRNA) among soil microorganisms. In contrast, inoculation of lysogenic phages carrying the only arsC transduces more arsC (0.12 ± 0.037 to 0.315 ± 0.051 per 16S rRNA) compare with the control. This article confirmed that different arsenic species proportions and different viral gene compositions could change the abundance of ABGs in the soil microbe, which might provide basic knowledge for further understanding of arsenic pollution control mediated by lysogenic phage.