%0 Journal Article %A Marchal, M. %A Briandet, R. %A Koechler, S. %A Kammerer, B. %A Bertin, P. N. %T Effect of arsenite on swimming motility delays surface colonization in Herminiimonas arsenicoxydans %D 2010 %J Microbiology, %V 156 %N 8 %P 2336-2342 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.039313-0 %K CLSM, confocal laser scanning microscopy %I Microbiology Society, %X Herminiimonas arsenicoxydans is a Gram-negative bacterium able to detoxify arsenic-contaminated environments by oxidizing arsenite [As(III)] to arsenate [As(V)] and by scavenging arsenic ions in an extracellular matrix. Its motility and colonization behaviour have been previously suggested to be influenced by arsenite. Using time-course confocal laser scanning microscopy, we investigated its biofilm development in the absence and presence of arsenite. Arsenite was shown to delay biofilm initiation in the wild-type strain; this was partly explained by its toxicity, which caused an increased growth lag time. However, this delayed adhesion step in the presence of arsenite was not observed in either a swimming motility defective fliL mutant or an arsenite oxidase defective aoxB mutant; both strains displayed the wild-type surface properties and growth capacities. We propose that during the biofilm formation process arsenite acts on swimming motility as a result of the arsenite oxidase activity, preventing the switch between planktonic and sessile lifestyles. Our study therefore highlights the existence, under arsenite exposure, of a competition between swimming motility, resulting from arsenite oxidation, and biofilm initiation. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.039313-0