Sulfate-reducing bacteria, oxidative

Hydrogen sulfide is a gas typically found in well water that is devoid of oxygen. It is the result of sulfate-reducing bacteria oxidizing organic matter, which releases hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide is a weak acid whose speciation depends on pH as follows ... 

Thiobacillus thiooxidans is an aerobic organism that oxidizes various sulfur-containing compounds to form sulfuric acid. These bacteria are sometimes found near the tops of tubercles (see Chap. 3, Tubercu-lation ). There is a symbiotic relationship between Thiobacillus and sulfate reducers Thiobacillus oxidizes sulfide to sulfate, whereas the sulfate reducers convert sulfide to sulfate. It is unclear to what extent Thiobacillus directly influences corrosion processes inside tubercles. It is more likely that they indirectly increase corrosion by accelerating sulfate-reducer activity deep in the tubercles. 

Yagi laid the foundation for the enzymology of CODH when he discovered an enzymatic activity in sulfate-reducing bacteria that oxidizes CO to CO2 (118). Twenty-five years later, the first CODH was purified to homogeneity (119, 120). The homogeneous C. thermo-aceticum CODH was shown to contain 2 mol of nickel, 12 iron, 1 zinc, and 14 acid-labile inorganic sulfide per afS dimeric unit (120). 

This key enzyme of the dissimilatory sulfate reduction was isolated from all Desulfovibrio strains studied until now 135), and from some sulfur oxidizing bacteria and thermophilic Archaea 136, 137). The enzymes isolated from sulfate-reducing bacteria contain two [4Fe-4S] clusters and a flavin group (FAD) as demonstrated by visible, EPR, and Mossbauer spectroscopies. With a total molecular mass ranging from 150 to 220 kDa, APS reductases have a subunit composition of the type 012)32 or 02)3. The subunit molecular mass is approximately 70 and 20 kDa for the a and )3 subunits, respectively. Amino-acid sequence data suggest that both iron-sulfur clusters are located in the (3 subunit... 

Girguis PR, AE Cozen, EF Delong (2005) Growth and population dynamics of anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria in a continuous-flow reactor. Appl Environ Microbiol 71 3725-3733. 

Widdel F, N Pfennig (1982) Studies on dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria that decompose fatty acids. II. Incomplete oxidation of propionate by Desulfobulbus propionicus gen. nov., sp. nov. Arch Microbiol 131 360-365. 

Harms G, K Zengle, R Rabus, F Aeckersberg, D Minz, R Rossell6-Mora, F Widdel (1999) Anaerobic oxidation of o-xylene, m-xylene, and homologous alkylbenzenes by new types of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 65 999-1004. 

Biological activity can be used in two ways for the bioremediation of metal-contaminated soils to immobilize the contaminants in situ or to remove them permanently from the soil matrix, depending on the properties of the reduced elements. Chromium and uranium are typical candidates for in situ immobilization processes. The bioreduction of Cr(VI) and Ur(VI) transforms highly soluble ions such as CrO and UO + to insoluble solid compounds, such as Cr(OH)3 and U02. The selenate anions SeO are also reduced to insoluble elemental selenium Se°. Bioprecipitation of heavy metals, such as Pb, Cd, and Zn, in the form of sulfides, is another in situ immobilization option that exploits the metabolic activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria without altering the valence state of metals. The removal of contaminants from the soil matrix is the most appropriate remediation strategy when bioreduction results in species that are more soluble compared to the initial oxidized element. This is the case for As(V) and Pu(IV), which are transformed to the more soluble As(III) and Pu(III) forms. This treatment option presupposes an installation for the efficient recovery and treatment of the aqueous phase containing the solubilized contaminants. 

Rosenfeld, W.D., Anaerobic oxidation of hydrocarbons by sulfate-reducing bacteria, J. Bacteriol., 54, 664-668, 1947. 

Based on the previous publications, azo dye can be reduced by azoreductase-catalyzed reduction under anaerobic conditions. But still there is a speculation whether bacterial flavin reductases are responsible for the azo reductase activity observed with bacterial cell extracts. In a published report, it is reported that flavin reductases are indeed able to act as azo reductases [24]. Bacteria produce extracellular oxidative enzymes, which are relatively nonspecific enzymes catalyzing the oxidation of a variety of dyes. It was reported that so many diverse groups of bacteria play a role in decolorization. It has been also reported that mixed microbial community could reduce various azo dyes, and members of the y-proteabacteria and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were found to be prominent members of mixed bacterial population by using molecular methods to determine the microbial population dynamics [1],... 

Atmospheric deposition is an important source of mercury for surface waters and terrestrial environments that can be categorized into two different types, wet and dry depositions. Wet deposition during rainfall is the primary mechanism by which mercury is transported from the atmosphere to surface waters and land. Whereas the predominant form of Hg in the atmosphere is Hg° (>95%), is oxidized in the upper atmosphere to water-soluble ionic mercury, which is returned to the earth s surface in rainwater. In addition to wet deposition of Hg in precipitation, there can also be dry deposition of Hg°, particulate (HgP), and reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) to watersheds [9-11]. In fact, about 90% of the total Hg input to the aquatic environment is recycled to the atmosphere and less than 10% reaches the sediments [12]. By current consensus, it is generally accepted that sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB)... 

Metal contaminants can in some cases be immobilized in situ by oxidation or reduction, or precipitated by reaction with sulfide. Sulfate reducing bacteria are sometimes stimulated to produce sulfide, or a sulfur-bearing compound such as calcium polysulfide can be injected into the subsurface as a reductant and sulfide source. In certain cases where the contamination poses little immediate threat, it can safely be left to attenuate naturally (e.g., Brady et al., 1998), a procedure known as monitored natural attenuation. 

To establish the stoichiometry of the sulfide formation, Equation (6.3) must be combined with the oxidation process for the organic matter that is the actual electron donor for the heterotrophic sulfate-reducing bacteria. The procedure for the combination of the oxidation and the reduction process steps is the same as outlined in Section 2.1.3. If organic matter is considered simply as CH20, the combination of the oxidation process as depicted in Example 2.2 and the reduction reaction for sulfate shown in Equation (6.3) result in the following redox process ... 

Sulfate is typically found in all types of wastewater in concentrations greater than 5-15 gS nr i.e., in concentrations that are not limiting for sulfide formation in relatively thin biofilms (Nielsen and Hvitved-Jacobsen, 1988). In sewer sediments, however, where sulfate may penetrate the deeper sediment layers, the potential for sulfate reduction may increase with increasing sulfate concentration in the bulk water phase. Under specific conditions, e.g., in the case of industrial wastewater, it is important that oxidized sulfur components (e.g., thiosulfate and sulfite) other than sulfate may act as sulfur sources for sulfate-reducing bacteria (Nielsen, 1991). 

Peck then became interested in sulfate-reducing bacteria, which he had got to know in Gest s laboratory. To study the reduction of sulfate. Peck worked in Fritz Lipmann s laboratory in Massachussetts General Hospital (1956) and with Lipmann at Rockefeller University (1957). Lipmann started work on active sulfate in 1954 with Helmut Hilz as a postdoctoral fellow and studied the activation of sulfate to APS and PAPS. Lipmann had left the active sulfate projects by 1957 and started, at Rockefeller University, the studies on protein synthesis. Peck published one paper on the reduction of sulfate with hydrogen in extracts of Desulfovibrio desul-furicans (1959) and one on APS as an intermediate on the oxidation of thiosulfate by Thiobacillus thioparus (1960). 

Barton LL, editor. 1995. Sulfate-reducing bacteria. New York Plenum Press. Blanchard L, Marion D, Pollock B, et al. 1993. Overexpression of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough cytochrome C553 in Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G200 evidence of conformational heterogeneity in the oxidized protein by NMR. Eur J Biochem 218 293-301. 

Oxidative Stress Protection in Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria... 

Evidence for an alternative oxidative stress protection mechanism in sulfate-reducing bacteria has begun to emerge. Table 10.1 provides data on the proteins implicated in this alternative system. All but one of these proteins contain distinctive types of nonheme iron active sites. This chapter describes recent results on three of these novel proteins DcrH, Rbo, and Rbr, all from Desulfovibrio vulgaris HUdenborough. 

Peck s hrst signihcant contribution was to look at Thiobacillus thioparus (the type species of the genus Thiobacillus) through the eyes of one who knew a lot about sulfate-reducing bacteria and about the enzymes involved in sulfate metabolism in yeast and mammalian tissues. This led him to think maybe the same enzymes are involved in sulfur oxidation as in reduction. The seminal paper of 1960 showed that this was indeed the case. 

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