identifier: traitmech:000189
label: arsenite oxidation
definition: A metabolism in which an organism enzymatically oxidizes arsenite to arsenate
  as an energy-generating electron donor or detoxification substrate.
definition_source: DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2020.569282
trait_category: METABOLISM
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: PROPOSED
parent_traits:
- METPO:1000060
synonyms:
- synonym_text: As(III) oxidation
  synonym_type: EXACT_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2020.569282
- synonym_text: microbial arsenite oxidation
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2020.569282
evidence:
- reference: DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2020.569282
  snippet: The biological oxidation of arsenite [As(III)] to arsenate [As(V)] is considered
    a strategy to reduce arsenic toxicity and provide energy
  notes: Shi et al. review biological As(III)-to-As(V) oxidation as a microbial detoxification
    and energy-generating metabolism.
- reference: DOI:10.1128/AEM.66.1.92-97.2000
  snippet: A facultatively chemolithoautotrophic arsenite oxidizer (strain NT-26)
    was isolated from the arsenopyrite-containing gold mine at Pine Creek, Northern
    Territory, Australia.
  notes: Santini et al. isolated the aerobic chemolithoautotrophic arsenite-oxidizing
    strain NT-26.
- reference: DOI:10.1186/s12866-024-03676-9
  snippet: Both BAW48 and BAS32 isolates demonstrated As(III) oxidation
  notes: Hoque et al. report As(III)-oxidizing Achromobacter aegrifaciens isolates
    from arsenic-contaminated tubewell water and soil.
discussions:
- discussion_id: arsenite-oxidation-xref-gap
  prompt: Resolve an exact external ontology class for organism-level arsenite oxidation
    before adding a TraitRecord xref.
  kind: CURATION_TODO
  status: OPEN
  rationale: The pinned METPO snapshot contains only METPO:1000840 obsolete Arsenite
    oxidation. Potential external molecular function terms for arsenite oxidase activity
    are narrower than the organism-level As(III)-to-As(V) metabolism, and a future
    mechanism graph should distinguish aerobic AioBA oxidation from anaerobic ArxAB-mediated
    arsenite oxidation.
  posed_by: codex
  posed_date: '2026-09-14'
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-09-14T20:30:00Z'
  curator: codex
  action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID
  changes: Minted arsenite oxidation as a DOI-backed arsenic metabolism TraitRecord
    after a repository-wide duplicate review covering ignored and hidden files; the
    local METPO snapshot has only an obsolete Arsenite oxidation class and the replacement
    placeholder is reserved in proposals/metpo_traitmech_v66.
  llm_assisted: true