Dr. Lovley et Ejp. Phillips, NOVEL PROCESSES FOR ANAEROBIC SULFATE PRODUCTION FROM ELEMENTAL SULFUR BY SULFATE-REDUCING BACTERIA, Applied and environmental microbiology, 60(7), 1994, pp. 2394-2399
Sulfate reducers and related organisms which had previously been found
to reduce Fe(III) with H-2 or organic electron donors oxidized S-0 to
sulfate when Mn(IV) was provided as an electron acceptor. Organisms c
atalyzing this reaction in washed cell suspensions included Desulfovib
rio desulfuricans, Desulfomicrobium baculatum, Desulfobacterium autotr
ophicum, Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, and Geobacter metallireducens. Th
ese organisms produced little or no sulfate from S-0 with Fe(III) as a
potential electron acceptor or in the absence of an electron acceptor
. In detailed studies with Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, the stoichiome
try of sulfate and Mn(II) production was consistent with the reaction
S-0 + 3 MnO2 + 4H(+)-->SO42- + 3Mn(II) + 2H(2)O. None of the organisms
evaluated could be grown with S-0 as the sole electron donor and Mn(I
V) as the electron acceptor. In contrast to the other sulfate reducers
evaluated, Desulfobulbus propionicus produced sulfate from S-0 in the
absence of an electron acceptor and Fe(III) oxide stimulated sulfate
production. Sulfide also accumulated in the absence of Mn(IV) or Fe(II
I). The stoichiometry of sulfate and sulfide production indicated that
Desulfobulbus propionicus disproportionates S-0 as follows: 4S(0) + 4
H(2)O-->SO42 + 3HS(-) + 5 H+. Growth of Desulfobulbus propionicus with
SO as the electron donor and Fe(III) as a sulfide sink and/or electro
n acceptor was very slow. The S-0 oxidation coupled to Mn(IV) reductio
n described here provides a potential explanation for the Mn(TV)-depen
dent sulfate production that previous studies have observed in anoxic
marine sediments. Desulfobulbus propionicus is the first example of a
pure culture known to disproportionate S-0.