scholarly journals Presence of Nitrate-Accumulating Sulfur Bacteria and Their Influence on Nitrogen Cycling in a Shallow Coastal Marine Sediment

2001 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 3481-3487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikio Sayama

ABSTRACT Nitrate flux between sediment and water, nitrate concentration profile at the sediment-water interface, and in situ sediment denitrification activity were measured seasonally at the innermost part of Tokyo Bay, Japan. For the determination of sediment nitrate concentration, undisturbed sediment cores were sectioned into 5-mm depth intervals and each segment was stored frozen at −30°C. The nitrate concentration was determined for the supernatants after centrifuging the frozen and thawed sediments. Nitrate in the uppermost sediment showed a remarkable seasonal change, and its seasonal maximum of up to 400 μM was found in October. The directions of the diffusive nitrate fluxes predicted from the interfacial concentration gradients were out of the sediment throughout the year. In contrast, the directions of the total nitrate fluxes measured by the whole-core incubation were into the sediment at all seasons. This contradiction between directions indicates that a large part of the nitrate pool extracted from the frozen surface sediments is not a pore water constituent, and preliminary examinations demonstrated that the nitrate was contained in the intracellular vacuoles of filamentous sulfur bacteria dwelling on or in the surface sediment. Based on the comparison between in situ sediment denitrification activity and total nitrate flux, it is suggested that intracellular nitrate cannot be directly utilized by sediment denitrification, and the probable fate of the intracellular nitrate is hypothesized to be dissimilatory reduction to ammonium. The presence of nitrate-accumulating sulfur bacteria therefore may lower nature's self-purification capacity (denitrification) and exacerbate eutrophication in shallow coastal marine environments.

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. De Roach ◽  
Andrew W. Rate ◽  
Brenton Knott ◽  
Peter M. Davies

The effect of burrow-dwelling fauna on sediment denitrification within the Swan River Estuary, Western Australia, was assessed by determining the spatial profile of potential denitrification activity surrounding individual burrows of a polychaete. This activity was described for Ceratonereis aequisetis and compared with uninhabited sediment. Potential porewater denitrification activity was measured as N’2O production in the presence of acetylene (which blocks N2O reduction and NH4+ oxidation) and supplementary NO3-(provided as a substrate for denitrification). Snap-freezing of sediment cores in liquid nitrogen allowed easy sectioning in both the vertical (perpendicular depth from surface sediment) and radial (depth from burrow wall) planes. Overall, potential denitrification activity was significantly greater in inhabited sediment than in uninhabited sediment, although uninhabited sediment had higher surficial (0–10 mm) potential denitrification activity. Potential denitrification activity was also greater closer to the burrow wall (0–9 mm) rather than further into the sediment (9–13 mm). Greater sampling resolution would be required to determine whether a thin oxygenated surface layer (of either the vertical or radial plane) exists in which denitrification is inhibited. Although this study accurately demonstrates the spatial effect of C. aequisetis on sediment potential denitrification, the reported denitrification intensity may not reflect the rate in situ.


2007 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 2320-2326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Takii ◽  
Satoshi Hanada ◽  
Hideyuki Tamaki ◽  
Yutaka Ueno ◽  
Yuji Sekiguchi ◽  
...  

A sulfate-reducing enrichment culture originating from coastal marine sediment of the eutrophic Tokyo Bay, Japan, was successfully established with Casamino acids as a substrate. A thiosulfate reducer, strain C/G2T, was isolated from the enrichment culture after further enrichment with glutamate. Cells of strain C/G2T were non-motile rods (0.6–0.8 μm×2.2–4.8 μm) and were found singly or in pairs and sometimes in short chains. Spores were not formed. Cells of strain C/G2T stained Gram-negatively, despite possessing Gram-positive cell walls. The optimum temperature for growth was 28–30 °C, the optimum pH was around 7.8 and the optimum salt concentration was 20–30 g l−1. Lactate, pyruvate, serine, cysteine, threonine, glutamate, histidine, lysine, arginine, Casamino acids, peptone and yeast extract were fermented as single substrates and no sugar was used as a fermentative substrate. A Stickland reaction was observed with some pairs of amino acids. Fumarate, alanine, proline, phenylalanine, tryptophan, glutamine and aspartate were utilized only in the presence of thiosulfate. Strain C/G2T fermented glutamate to H2, CO2, acetate and propionate. Thiosulfate and elemental sulfur were reduced to sulfide. Sulfate, sulfite and nitrate were not utilized as electron acceptors. The growth of strain C/G2T on Casamino acids or glutamate was enhanced by co-culturing with Desulfovibrio sp. isolated from the original mixed culture enriched with Casamino acids. The DNA G+C content of strain C/G2T was 41.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain C/G2T formed a distinct cluster with species of the genus Sedimentibacter. The closest relative was Sedimentibacter hydroxybenzoicus (with a gene sequence similarity of 91 %). On the basis of its phylogenetic and phenotypic properties, strain C/G2T (=JCM 13356T=NBRC 101112T=DSM 17477T) is proposed as representing a new genus and novel species, Dethiosulfatibacter aminovorans gen. nov., sp. nov.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalton J. Leprich ◽  
Beverly E. Flood ◽  
Peter R. Schroedl ◽  
Elizabeth Ricci ◽  
Jeffery J. Marlow ◽  
...  

AbstractCarbonate rocks at marine methane seeps are commonly colonized by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria that co-occur with etch pits that suggest active dissolution. We show that sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are abundant on the surface of an exemplar seep carbonate collected from Del Mar East Methane Seep Field, USA. We then used bioreactors containing aragonite mineral coupons that simulate certain seep conditions to investigate plausible in situ rates of carbonate dissolution associated with sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Bioreactors inoculated with a sulfur-oxidizing bacterial strain, Celeribacter baekdonensis LH4, growing on aragonite coupons induced dissolution rates in sulfidic, heterotrophic, and abiotic conditions of 1773.97 (±324.35), 152.81 (±123.27), and 272.99 (±249.96) μmol CaCO3 • cm−2 • yr−1, respectively. Steep gradients in pH were also measured within carbonate-attached biofilms using pH-sensitive fluorophores. Together, these results show that the production of acidic microenvironments in biofilms of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are capable of dissolving carbonate rocks, even under well-buffered marine conditions. Our results support the hypothesis that authigenic carbonate rock dissolution driven by lithotrophic sulfur-oxidation constitutes a previously unknown carbon flux from the rock reservoir to the ocean and atmosphere.


2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihong Dong ◽  
Gengxin Ou ◽  
Xunhong Chen ◽  
Zhaowei Wang

In this study, in situ and on-site permeameter tests were conducted in Clear Creek, Nebraska, USA to evaluate the effect of water temperature on streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity Kv. Fifty-two sediment cores were tested. Five of them were transferred to the laboratory for a series of experiments to evaluate the effect of water temperature on Kv. Compared with in situ tests, 42 out of the 52 tests have higher Kv values for on-site tests. The distribution of water temperature at the approximately 50 cm depth of streambed along the sand bar was investigated in the field. These temperatures had values in the range 14–19 °C with an average of 16 °C and had an increasing trend along the stream flow. On average, Kv values of the streambed sediments in the laboratory tests increase by 1.8% per 1 °C increase in water temperature. The coarser sandy sediments show a greater increase extent of the Kv value per 1 °C increase in water temperature. However, there is no distinct increasing trend of Kv value for sediment containing silt and clay layers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 636 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. HELALI ◽  
N. ZAABOUB ◽  
W. OUESLATI ◽  
A. ADDED ◽  
L. ALEYA

The authors studied benthic flux of oxygen, alkalinity, and nutrients in situ at three points in the Mejerda River Delta at depths of 10m, 20m and 40m in March and August 2012. Three sedimentary cores were simultaneously drilled at the same locations to determine the diffusive flux of NO2-, NO3-, NH4+ and PO43- and to estimate diagenetic mechanisms occurring below the sediment-water interface. Photosynthesis was not sufficiently high during the day, and the oxygen consumption at sediment-water interface was about 1.7 to 10mmol/m²/day, essentially controlled by the degradation of organic matter and oxidation of reduced elements. Nitrate contents are relatively high in the sediment (above 140μM for NO3-)and their production is not always in conformity with the general scheme of early diagenesis, moreover, benthic flux between water and sediment are not clearly established. The diffusive flux of NH4+ and PO43- are always directed to the water column, at averages of 1.27μmol/m²/day for PO43- and 96.5μmol/m²/day for NH4+, complying with those measured by benthic chambers, but representing less than 30% of benthic fluxes for NH4+ and less than 5% for PO43-.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 4611-4631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhrangshu Mandal ◽  
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya ◽  
Chayan Roy ◽  
Moidu Jameela Rameez ◽  
Jagannath Sarkar ◽  
...  

Abstract. To explore the potential role of tetrathionate in the sedimentary sulfur cycle, population ecology of microorganisms capable of metabolizing this polythionate was revealed at 15–30 cm resolution along two, ∼3 m long, cores collected from 530 and 580 m below the sea level, off India's west coast, within the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) of the Arabian Sea. Metagenome analysis along the cores revealed widespread occurrence of genes involved in the formation, oxidation, and reduction of tetrathionate; high diversity and relative abundance were also detected for bacteria that are known to render these metabolisms in vitro. Results of slurry culture of the sediment samples in thiosulfate- or tetrathionate-containing microbial growth media, data obtained via pure-culture isolation, and finally metatranscriptome analyses corroborated the in situ functionality of the tetrathionate-forming, tetrathionate-oxidizing, and tetrathionate-reducing microorganisms. Ion chromatography of pore waters revealed the presence of up to 11.1 µM thiosulfate in the two cores, whereas tetrathionate remained undetected in spectroscopic assay based on its reaction with cyanide. While thiosulfate oxidation by chemolithotrophic bacteria prevalent in situ is the apparent source of tetrathionate in this ecosystem, high biochemical and geochemical reactivity of this polythionate could be instrumental in its cryptic status in the sulfur cycle. Potential abiotic origin of tetrathionate in the sediment horizon explored could neither be ruled out nor confirmed from the geochemical information available. On the other hand, tetrathionate potentially present in the system can be either oxidized to sulfate or reduced back to thiosulfate/sulfide via chemolithotrophic oxidation and respiration by native bacterial populations, respectively. Up to 2.01 mM sulfide present in the sediment cores may also reduce tetrathionate abiotically to thiosulfate and elemental sulfur. However, in the absence of measured data for O2 or other oxyanions having possibilities of serving as electron acceptors, the biogeochemical modalities of the oxidative half of the tetrathionate cycle remained unresolved.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-250

In coastal marine environments, with shallow, warm and calm waters, it is sometimes possible to observe the presence of organosedimentary structures that are commonly flat and laminar in shape. These structures are called algal mats or recent stromatolites due to their remarkable similarities to fossil stromatolites. The aim of this work was the study of the distribution of the various forms of Cu and Cd in the main layers of coastal algal mats in a closed bay at Anavissos, on the coast of Saronikos Gulf. Small sediment cores were collected from one point inside the cove on a seasonal basis and the trace metals extracted according to the BCR sequential extraction method. The main results of the study were: Most of the labile Cd was associated with small inorganic grains or lime particles. The contribution of the fraction associated with Mn and Fe oxides, was similar to that adsorbed to organic compounds and sulfides. The high contribution of the labile Cd to the total element (over 85%) was a strong indication of anthropogenic origin. On the other hand, most of the Cu in the sediment was associated with the crystal lattice (74%). Cu showed increased seasonal fluctuation; most of its labile forms were associated with organic compounds and sulfides whereas the less abundant form was that associated with Mn and Fe oxides. On the whole, the sediments were slightly enriched in Cd, while the concentrations of Cu were normal for the region.


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