ABSTRACT
Although arsenic and antimony are generally toxic to life, some microorganisms exist that can metabolize certain forms of these elements. Some can use arsenite or stibnite as partial or sole energy sources, whereas others can use arsenate and antimonate (as was discovered only recently) as terminal electron acceptors. Still other microbes can metabolize arsenic and antimony compounds to detoxify them. These reactions are important from a geomicrobial standpoint because they indicate that a number of microbes contribute to arsenic and antimony mobilization or immobilization in the environment and play a role in arsenic and antimony cycles. Recent reviews include ve on prokaryotes and arsenic metabolism (Oremland et al., 2009; Slyemi and Bonnefoy, 2012; van Lis
et al., 2012, 2013; Cavalca et al., 2013; Krüger et al., 2013), a review with an arsenic perspective on biomining (Drewniak and Sklodowska, 2013), and a series on environmental antimony (Filella et al., 2002a,b), including one about antimony and its interaction with microbiota (Filella et al., 2007).
