Community Size and Metabolic Rates of Psychrophilic Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in Arctic Marine Sediments

ABSTRACT The numbers of sulfate reducers in two Arctic sediments with in situ temperatures of 2.6 and −1.7°C were determined. Most-probable-number counts were higher at 10°C than at 20°C, indicating the predominance of a psychrophilic community. Mean specific sulfate reduction rates of 19 isolated p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Main Authors: Knoblauch, Christian, Jørgensen, Bo Barker, Harder, Jens
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 1999
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.65.9.4230-4233.1999
https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.65.9.4230-4233.1999
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Summary:ABSTRACT The numbers of sulfate reducers in two Arctic sediments with in situ temperatures of 2.6 and −1.7°C were determined. Most-probable-number counts were higher at 10°C than at 20°C, indicating the predominance of a psychrophilic community. Mean specific sulfate reduction rates of 19 isolated psychrophiles were compared to corresponding rates of 9 marine, mesophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria. The results indicate that, as a physiological adaptation to the permanently cold Arctic environment, psychrophilic sulfate reducers have considerably higher specific metabolic rates than their mesophilic counterparts at similarly low temperatures.