Kinetics of arsenite removal by halobacteria from a highland Andean Chilean Salar.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify arsenite-oxidizing halobacteria in samples obtained from Salar de Punta Negra, II Region of Chile. Seven bacterial isolates, numbered as isolates I to VII, grown in a culture medium with 100 ppm as NaAsO2 (As (III)) were tested. Bacterial growth kinetics and the percent of arsenite removal (PAR) were performed simultaneously with the detection of an arsenite oxidase enzyme through Dot Blot analysis.