Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans
Diverse microbial assemblages inhabit subglacial aquatic environments. While few of these environments have been sampled, data reveal that subglacial organisms gain energy for growth from reduced minerals containing nitrogen, iron, and sulfur. Here we investigate the role of microbially mediated sul...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:92ed8ef98e1f434fb545eccc5d33df15 2023-05-15T13:36:12+02:00 Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans Alicia M Purcell Jill A Mikucki Amanda eAchberger Irina eAlekhina Carlo eBarbante Brent Craig Christner Dhritiman eGhosh Alexander B Michaud Andrew C Mitchell John C Priscu Reed eScherer Mark eSkidmore Trista J Vick-Majors The WISSARD eScience Team 2014-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 https://doaj.org/article/92ed8ef98e1f434fb545eccc5d33df15 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 https://doaj.org/article/92ed8ef98e1f434fb545eccc5d33df15 Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 5 (2014) Sulfur oxidation Geomicrobiology sulfate reduction chemosynthesis Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments Microbiology QR1-502 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 2022-12-30T23:09:27Z Diverse microbial assemblages inhabit subglacial aquatic environments. While few of these environments have been sampled, data reveal that subglacial organisms gain energy for growth from reduced minerals containing nitrogen, iron, and sulfur. Here we investigate the role of microbially mediated sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW), Antarctica, by examining key genes involved in dissimilatory sulfur oxidation and reduction. The presence of sulfur transformation genes throughout the top 34 cm of SLW sediments changes with depth. SLW surficial sediments were dominated by genes related to known sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs. Sequences encoding the adenosine-5’-phosphosulfate (APS) reductase gene, involved in both dissimilatory sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation, were present in all samples and clustered into 16 distinct OTUs. The majority of APS reductase sequences (74%) clustered with known sulfur oxidizers including those within the Sideroxydans and Thiobacillus genera. Reverse-acting dissimilatory sulfite reductase (rDSR) and 16S rRNA gene sequences further support dominance of Sideroxydans and Thiobacillus phylotypes in the top 2 cm of SLW sediments. The SLW microbial community has the genetic potential for sulfate reduction which is supported by experimentally measured low rates (1.4 pmol cm-3d-1) of biologically mediated sulfate reduction and the presence of APS reductase and DSR gene sequences related to Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfotomaculum. Our results also infer the presence of sulfur oxidation, which can be a significant energetic pathway for chemosynthetic biosynthesis in SLW sediments. The water in SLW ultimately flows into the Ross Sea where intermediates from subglacial sulfur transformations can influence the flux of solutes to the Southern Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Whillans ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) Frontiers in Microbiology 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Sulfur oxidation Geomicrobiology sulfate reduction chemosynthesis Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments Microbiology QR1-502 |
spellingShingle |
Sulfur oxidation Geomicrobiology sulfate reduction chemosynthesis Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments Microbiology QR1-502 Alicia M Purcell Jill A Mikucki Amanda eAchberger Irina eAlekhina Carlo eBarbante Brent Craig Christner Dhritiman eGhosh Alexander B Michaud Andrew C Mitchell John C Priscu Reed eScherer Mark eSkidmore Trista J Vick-Majors The WISSARD eScience Team Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
topic_facet |
Sulfur oxidation Geomicrobiology sulfate reduction chemosynthesis Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments Microbiology QR1-502 |
description |
Diverse microbial assemblages inhabit subglacial aquatic environments. While few of these environments have been sampled, data reveal that subglacial organisms gain energy for growth from reduced minerals containing nitrogen, iron, and sulfur. Here we investigate the role of microbially mediated sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW), Antarctica, by examining key genes involved in dissimilatory sulfur oxidation and reduction. The presence of sulfur transformation genes throughout the top 34 cm of SLW sediments changes with depth. SLW surficial sediments were dominated by genes related to known sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs. Sequences encoding the adenosine-5’-phosphosulfate (APS) reductase gene, involved in both dissimilatory sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation, were present in all samples and clustered into 16 distinct OTUs. The majority of APS reductase sequences (74%) clustered with known sulfur oxidizers including those within the Sideroxydans and Thiobacillus genera. Reverse-acting dissimilatory sulfite reductase (rDSR) and 16S rRNA gene sequences further support dominance of Sideroxydans and Thiobacillus phylotypes in the top 2 cm of SLW sediments. The SLW microbial community has the genetic potential for sulfate reduction which is supported by experimentally measured low rates (1.4 pmol cm-3d-1) of biologically mediated sulfate reduction and the presence of APS reductase and DSR gene sequences related to Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfotomaculum. Our results also infer the presence of sulfur oxidation, which can be a significant energetic pathway for chemosynthetic biosynthesis in SLW sediments. The water in SLW ultimately flows into the Ross Sea where intermediates from subglacial sulfur transformations can influence the flux of solutes to the Southern Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alicia M Purcell Jill A Mikucki Amanda eAchberger Irina eAlekhina Carlo eBarbante Brent Craig Christner Dhritiman eGhosh Alexander B Michaud Andrew C Mitchell John C Priscu Reed eScherer Mark eSkidmore Trista J Vick-Majors The WISSARD eScience Team |
author_facet |
Alicia M Purcell Jill A Mikucki Amanda eAchberger Irina eAlekhina Carlo eBarbante Brent Craig Christner Dhritiman eGhosh Alexander B Michaud Andrew C Mitchell John C Priscu Reed eScherer Mark eSkidmore Trista J Vick-Majors The WISSARD eScience Team |
author_sort |
Alicia M Purcell |
title |
Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
title_short |
Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
title_full |
Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
title_fullStr |
Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans |
title_sort |
microbial sulfur transformations in sediments from subglacial lake whillans |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 https://doaj.org/article/92ed8ef98e1f434fb545eccc5d33df15 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Whillans |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Whillans |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 5 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 https://doaj.org/article/92ed8ef98e1f434fb545eccc5d33df15 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00594 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
5 |
_version_ |
1766075422775181312 |