Recovery of humic-reducing bacteria from a diversity of environments.

TitleRecovery of humic-reducing bacteria from a diversity of environments.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1998
AuthorsCoates JD, Ellis DJ, Blunt-Harris EL, Gaw CV, Roden EE, Lovley DR
JournalAppl Environ Microbiol
Volume64
Issue4
Pagination1504-9
Date Published1998 Apr
ISSN0099-2240
KeywordsAcetic Acid, Anthraquinones, Base Sequence, DNA Primers, Electron Transport, Fresh Water, Gram-Negative Anaerobic Bacteria, Humic Substances, Iron, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, Polymerase Chain Reaction, RNA, Bacterial, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Seawater, Sulfur-Reducing Bacteria, Water Microbiology
Abstract

To evaluate which microorganisms might be responsible for microbial reduction of humic substances in sedimentary environments, humic-reducing bacteria were isolated from a variety of sediment types. These included lake sediments, pristine and contaminated wetland sediments, and marine sediments. In each of the sediment types, all of the humic reducers recovered with acetate as the electron donor and the humic substance analog, 2,6-anthraquinone disulfonate (AQDS), as the electron acceptor were members of the family Geobacteraceae. This was true whether the AQDS-reducing bacteria were enriched prior to isolation on solid media or were recovered from the highest positive dilutions of sediments in liquid media. All of the isolates tested not only conserved energy to support growth from acetate oxidation coupled to AQDS reduction but also could oxidize acetate with highly purified soil humic acids as the sole electron acceptor. All of the isolates tested were also able to grow with Fe(III) serving as the sole electron acceptor. This is consistent with previous studies that have suggested that the capacity for Fe(III) reduction is a common feature of all members of the Geobacteraceae. These studies demonstrate that the potential for microbial humic substance reduction can be found in a wide variety of sediment types and suggest that Geobacteraceae species might be important humic-reducing organisms in sediments.

Alternate JournalAppl. Environ. Microbiol.
PubMed ID9546186