A novel pathway of arsenate detoxification

Microorganisms have evolved various mechanisms to detoxify arsenic, an ubiquitous environmental toxin. Known mechanisms include arsenite efflux, arsenate reduction followed by arsenite efflux and arsenite methylation. In this issue, Chen et al. describe a novel mechanism for arsenate detoxification via synergistic interaction of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and a major facilitator superfamily protein (ArsJ). They propose that GAPDH catalyzes the formation of 1-arseno-3-phosphoglycerate, which is then extruded out of the cell by ArsJ. The significance of this pathway and questions for further research are discussed.