Sulfur and Oxygen Isotope Fractionation During Bacterial Sulfur Disproportionation Under Anaerobic Haloalkaline Conditions

Poser, Alexander; Vogt, Carsten; Knöller, Kay; Sorokin, Dimitry Y.; Finster, Kai; Richnow, Hans H.

doi:10.1080/01490451.2015.1128993

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, only a small sulfur isotope fractionation generally accompanies the aerobic oxidation of H 2 S, S 0 , S 2

, and

to either S 0 or

(Fry et al, 1986 ; Table 1 ). In contrast, larger sulfur isotope fractionation has been found during disproportionation of S 2

, S 0 , and

at more neutral conditions (Habicht et al, 1998 ; Poser et al, 2016 ). Consistent with previous studies, the sulfur isotope fractionation of elemental sulfur oxidation to sulfate under aerobic acidic conditions was characterized by a small sulfur isotope fractionation in this study (Table 1 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tetrathionate disproportionation consists of multiple enzymatic steps that involve breaking of bonds and thus the sulfur isotopic fractionation measured between the final product sulfate and the reactant tetrathionate will reflect the sum of sulfur isotope fractionations associated with these enzymatic reactions. It is well documented that sulfur isotope fractionation during disproportionation may be controlled by the cell-specific rate of disproportionation in addition to various environmental and physicochemical factors (Habicht et al, 1998 ; Poser et al, 2016 ). During disproportionation of sulfur substrates such as elemental sulfur, thiosulfate, or tetrathionate, reversible reactions are involved that further modulate the sulfur isotope fractionation (Habicht et al, 1998 ; Kelly, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Tetrathionate and Elemental Sulfur Shape the Isotope Composition of Sulfate in Acid Mine Drainage

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sulfur compounds in intermediate valence states, for example elemental sulfur, thiosulfate, and tetrathionate, are important players in the biogeochemical sulfur cycle. However, key understanding about the pathways of oxidation involving mixed-valance state sulfur species is still missing. Here we report the sulfur and oxygen isotope fractionation effects during the oxidation of tetrathionate (S4O62−) and elemental sulfur (S°) to sulfate in bacterial cultures in acidic conditions. Oxidation of tetrathionate by Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans produced thiosulfate, elemental sulfur and sulfate. Up to 34% of the tetrathionate consumed by the bacteria could not be accounted for in sulfate or other intermediate-valence state sulfur species over the experiments. The oxidation of tetrathionate yielded sulfate that was initially enriched in 34S (ε34SSO4−S4O6) by +7.9‰, followed by a decrease to +1.4‰ over the experiment duration, with an average ε34SSO4−S4O6 of +3.5 ± 0.2‰ after a month of incubation. We attribute this significant sulfur isotope fractionation to enzymatic disproportionation reactions occurring during tetrathionate decomposition, and to the incomplete transformation of tetrathionate into sulfate. The oxygen isotope composition of sulfate (δ18OSO4) from the tetrathionate oxidation experiments indicate that 62% of the oxygen in the formed sulfate was derived from water. The remaining 38% of the oxygen was either inherited from the supplied tetrathionate, or supplied from dissolved atmospheric oxygen (O2). During the oxidation of elemental sulfur, the product sulfate became depleted in 34S between −1.8 and 0‰ relative to the elemental sulfur with an average for ε34SSO4−S0 of −0.9 ± 0.2‰ and all the oxygen atoms in the sulfate derived from water with an average normal oxygen isotope fractionation (ε18OSO4−H2O) of −4.4‰. The differences observed in δ18OSO4 and the sulfur isotope composition of sulfate (δ34SSO4), acid production, and mixed valence state sulfur species generated by the oxidation of the two different substrates suggests a metabolic flexibility in response to sulfur substrate availability. Our results demonstrate that microbial processing of mixed-valence-state sulfur species generates a significant sulfur isotope fractionation in acidic environments and oxidation of mixed-valence state sulfur species may produce sulfate with characteristic sulfur and oxygen isotope signatures. Elemental sulfur and tetrathionate are not only intermediate-valence state sulfur compounds that play a central role in sulfur oxidation pathways, but also key factors in shaping these isotope patterns.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, only a small sulfur isotope fractionation generally accompanies the aerobic oxidation of H 2 S, S 0 , S 2

, and

to either S 0 or

(Fry et al, 1986 ; Table 1 ). In contrast, larger sulfur isotope fractionation has been found during disproportionation of S 2

, S 0 , and

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tetrathionate and Elemental Sulfur Shape the Isotope Composition of Sulfate in Acid Mine Drainage

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When exponentially growing cells were transferred to a fresh medium at 30°C in the presence of excess sulfide and nitrate, replicate cultures of DA produced sulfur isotopic enrichments (denoted as ε P/R ; see Materials and Methods) in the sulfate of +13.1 ± 0.7 per mil (‰) and +12.0 ± 0.5‰ (Table 1). These growing conditions produced the largest sulfur isotope fractionation reliably measured by MSO and larger than the sulfur isotope fractionation produced by DA when growing by MSD ( 10 ). The large fractionation observed in cultures of DA cannot be attributed to concurrent MSR because of a lack of electron donors other than sulfide in the medium and the physiological inability of DA to grow by sulfate reduction ( 9 ) nor can they be attributed to MSD as a result of extracellular sulfide oxidation to intermediate sulfur species because alternative oxidants were not added to the medium.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…A disproportionation step, which results in the production of 34 S -enriched sulfate and 32 S -enriched sulfide ( 21 ), could explain the sulfur isotope enrichments because it is consistent with the observation in DA. When DA is grown by disproportionation on S 0 , the sulfur isotope fractionation is as high as +5.6‰ ( 10 ). When this effect is added up with the pH-dependent isotope effect associated with sulfide speciation in our culture conditions, they sum to about +12‰, consistent with the measurement for sulfide oxidation by DA.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large sulfur isotope fractionation by bacterial sulfide oxidation

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A sulfide-oxidizing microorganism, Desulfurivibrio alkaliphilus (DA), generates a consistent enrichment of sulfur-34 (34S) in the produced sulfate of +12.5 per mil or greater. This observation challenges the general consensus that the microbial oxidation of sulfide does not result in large 34S enrichments and suggests that sedimentary sulfides and sulfates may be influenced by metabolic activity associated with sulfide oxidation. Since the DA-type sulfide oxidation pathway is ubiquitous in sediments, in the modern environment, and throughout Earth history, the enrichments and depletions in 34S in sediments may be the combined result of three microbial metabolisms: microbial sulfate reduction, the disproportionation of external sulfur intermediates, and microbial sulfide oxidation.

show abstract

“…The only known isolate of this genus, D. alkaliphilus , is unable to reduce sulfate. D. alkaliphilus is able to grow by the reduction of sulfur compounds or nitrate, by elemental sulfur disproportionation or by performing dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia coupled to sulfide oxidation (Sorokin et al ., ; Poser et al ., ; Thorup et al ., ). OTU0006 was not detected in any of the nitrate‐amended controls, thus its predominance in the bicarbonate‐amended microcosms may point to other ecophysiological roles for this group.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anaerobic microbial communities and their potential for bioenergy production in heavily biodegraded petroleum reservoirs

Rezende

Oldenburg

Korin

et al. 2020

Environmental Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most of the oil in low temperature, non-uplifted reservoirs is biodegraded due to millions of years of microbial activity, including via methanogenesis from crude oil. To evaluate stimulating additional methanogenesis in already heavily biodegraded oil reservoirs, oil sands samples were amended with nutrients and electron acceptors, but oil sands bitumen was the only organic substrate. Methane production was monitored for over 3000 days. Methanogenesis was observed in duplicate microcosms that were unamended, amended with sulfate or that were initially oxic, however methanogenesis was not observed in nitrate-amended controls. The highest rate of methane production was 0.15 μmol CH 4 g −1 oil d −1 , orders of magnitude lower than other reports of methanogenesis from lighter crude oils. Methanogenic Archaea and several potential syntrophic bacterial partners were detected following the incubations. GC-MS and FTICR-MS revealed no significant bitumen alteration for any specific compound or compound class, suggesting that the very slow methanogenesis observed was coupled to bitumen biodegradation in an unspecific manner. After 3000 days, methanogenic communities were amended with benzoate resulting in methanogenesis rates that were 110-fold greater. This suggests that oil-to-methane conversion is limited by the recalcitrant nature of oil sands bitumen, not the microbial communities resident in heavy oil reservoirs.

show abstract

Sulfur and Oxygen Isotope Fractionation During Bacterial Sulfur Disproportionation Under Anaerobic Haloalkaline Conditions

Cited by 13 publications

References 61 publications

Tetrathionate and Elemental Sulfur Shape the Isotope Composition of Sulfate in Acid Mine Drainage

Tetrathionate and Elemental Sulfur Shape the Isotope Composition of Sulfate in Acid Mine Drainage

Large sulfur isotope fractionation by bacterial sulfide oxidation

Anaerobic microbial communities and their potential for bioenergy production in heavily biodegraded petroleum reservoirs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About