Hydrogen metabolism by decomposing cyanobacterial aggregates in big soda lake, nevada

Methane Oxidation and Molecular Characterization of Methanotrophs from a Former Mercury Mine Impoundment

The Herman Pit, once a mercury mine, is an impoundment located in an active geothermal area. Its acidic waters are permeated by hundreds of gas seeps. One seep was sampled and found to be composed of mostly CO₂ with some CH₄ present. The δ¹³CH₄ value suggested a complex origin for the methane: i.e., a thermogenic component plus a biological methanogenic portion. The relatively ¹²C-enriched CO₂ suggested a reworking of the ebullitive methane by methanotrophic bacteria. Therefore, we tested bottom sediments for their ability to consume methane by conducting aerobic incubations of slurried materials. Methane was removed from the headspace of live slurries, and subsequent additions of methane resulted in faster removal rates. This activity could be transferred to an artificial, acidic medium, indicating the presence of acidophilic or acid-tolerant methanotrophs, the latter reinforced by the observation of maximum activity at pH = 4.5 with incubated slurries. A successful extraction of sterol and hopanoid lipids characteristic of methanotrophs was achieved, and their abundances greatly increased with increased sediment methane consumption. DNA extracted from methane-oxidizing enrichment cultures was amplified and sequenced for pmoA genes that aligned with methanotrophic members of the Gammaproteobacteria. An enrichment culture was established that grew in an acidic (pH 4.5) medium via methane oxidation.

Yellowstone Lake: high-energy geochemistry and rich bacterial diversity

Yellowstone Lake is central to the balanced functioning of the Yellowstone ecosystem, yet little is known about the microbial component of its food chain. A remotely operated vehicle provided video documentation (http://www.tbi.montana.edu/media/videos/) and allowed sampling of dilute surface zone waters and enriched lake floor hydrothermal vent fluids. Vent emissions contained substantial H(2)S, CH(4), CO(2) and H(2), although CH(4) and H(2) levels were also significant throughout the lake. Pyrosequencing and near full-length sequencing of Bacteria 16S rRNA gene diversity associated with two vents and two surface water environments demonstrated that this lake contains significant bacterial diversity. Biomass was size-fractionated by sequentially filtering through 20-µm-, 3.0-µm-, 0.8-µm- and 0.1-µm-pore-size filters, with the >0.1 to <0.8 µm size class being the focus of this study. Major phyla included Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, α- and β-Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, with 21 other phyla represented at varying levels. Surface waters were dominated by two phylotypes: the Actinobacteria freshwater acI group and an α-Proteobacteria clade tightly linked with freshwater SAR11-like organisms. We also obtained evidence of novel thermophiles and recovered Prochlorococcus phylotypes (97-100% identity) in one near surface photic zone region of the lake. The combined geochemical and microbial analyses suggest that the foundation of this lake's food chain is not simple. Phototrophy presumably is an important driver of primary productivity in photic zone waters; however, chemosynthetic hydrogenotrophy and methanotrophy are likely important components of the lake's food chain.

Degradation of methyl bromide by methanotrophic bacteria in cell suspensions and soils

Cell suspensions of Methylococcus capsulatus mineralized methyl bromide (MeBr), as evidence by its removal from the gas phase, the quantitative recovery of Br- in the spent medium, and the production of 14CO2 from [14C]MeBr. Methyl fluoride fluoride (MeF) inhibited oxidation of methane as well as that of [14C]MeBr. The rate of MeBr consumption by cells varied inversely with the supply of methane, which suggested a competitive relationship between these two substrates. However, MeBr did not support growth of the methanotroph. In soils exposed to high levels (10,000 ppm) of MeBr, methane oxidation was completely inhibited. At this concentration, MeBr removal rates were equivalent in killed and live controls, which indicated a chemical rather than biological removal reaction. At lower concentration (1,000 ppm) of MeBr, methanotrophs were active and MeBr consumption rates were 10-fold higher in live controls than in killed controls. Soils exposed to trace levels (10 ppm) of MeBr demonstrated complete consumption within 5 h of incubation, while controls inhibited with MeF or incubated without O2 had 50% lower removal rates. Aerobic soils oxidized [14C]MeBr to 14CO2, and MeF inhibited oxidation by 72%. Field experiments demonstrated slightly lower MeBr removal rates in chambers containing MeF than in chambers lacking MeF. Collectively, these results show that soil methanotrophic bacteria, as well as other microbes, can degrade MeBr present in the environment.

Control of Interspecies Electron Flow during Anaerobic Digestion: Role of Floc Formation in Syntrophic Methanogenesis

The flora of an anaerobic whey-processing chemostat was separated by anaerobic sedimentation techniques into a free-living bacterial fraction and a bacterial floc fraction. The floc fraction constituted a major part (i.e., 57% total protein) of the total microbial population in the digestor, and it accounted for 87% of the total CO(2)-dependent methanogenic activity and 76% of the total ethanol-consuming acetogenic activity. Lactose was degraded by both cellular fractions, but in the free flora fraction it was associated with higher intermediary levels of H(2), ethanol, butyrate, and propionate production. Electron microscopic analysis of flocs showed bacterial diversity and juxtapositioning of tentative Desulfovibrio and Methanobacterium species without significant microcolony formation. Ethanol, an intermediary product of lactose-hydrolyzing bacteria, was converted to acetate and methane within the flocs by interspecies electron transfer. Ethanol-dependent methane formation was compartmentalized and closely coupled kinetically within the flocs but without significant formation of H(2) gas. Physical disruption of flocs into fragments of 10- to 20-mum diameter initially increased the H(2) partial pressure but did not change the carbon transformation kinetic patterns of ethanol metabolism or demonstrate a significant role for H(2) in CO(2) reduction to methane. The data demonstrate that floc formation in a whey-processing anaerobic digestor functions in juxtapositioning cells for interspecies electron transfer during syntrophic ethanol conversion into acetate and methane but by a mechanism which was independent of the available dissolved H(2) gas pool in the ecosystem.

Metabolism of Reduced Methylated Sulfur Compounds in Anaerobic Sediments and by a Pure Culture of an Estuarine Methanogen

Addition of dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethyldisulfide (DMDS), or methane thiol (MSH) to a diversity of anoxic aquatic sediments (e.g., fresh water, estuarine, alkaline/hypersaline) stimulated methane production. The yield of methane recovered from DMS was often 52 to 63%, although high concentrations of DMS (as well as MSH and DMDS) inhibited methanogenesis in some types of sediments. Production of methane from these reduced methylated sulfur compounds was blocked by 2-bromoethanesulfonic acid. Sulfate did not influence the metabolism of millimolar levels of DMS, DMDS, or MSH added to sediments. However, when DMS was added at ∼2-μM levels as [ 14 C]DMS, metabolism by sediments resulted in a 14 CH 4 / 14 CO 2 ratio of only 0.06. Addition of molybdate increased the ratio to 1.8, while 2-bromoethanesulfonic acid decreased it to 0, but did not block 14 CO 2 production. These results indicate the methanogens and sulfate reducers compete for DMS when it is present at low concentrations; however, at high concentrations, DMS is a “noncompetitive” substrate for methanogens. Metabolism of DMS by sediments resulted in the appearance of MSH as a transient intermediate. A pure culture of an obligately methylotrophic estuarine methanogen was isolated which was capable of growth on DMS. Metabolism of DMS by the culture also resulted in the transient appearance of MSH, but the organism could grow on neither MSH nor DMDS. The culture metabolized [ 14 C]-DMS to yield a 14 CH 4 / 14 CO 2 ratio of ∼2.8. Reduced methylated sulfur compounds represent a new class of substrates for methanogens and may be potential precursors of methane in a variety of aquatic habitats.

Measurement of Nitrous Oxide Reductase Activity in Aquatic Sediments

Denitrification in aquatic sediments was measured by an N 2 O reductase assay. Sediments consumed small added quantities of N 2 O over short periods (a few hours). In experiments with sediment slurries, N 2 O reductase activity was inhibited by O 2 , C 2 H 2 , heat treatment, and by high levels of nitrate (1 mM) or sulfide (10 mM). However, ambient levels of nitrate (<100 μM) did not influence activity, and moderate levels (about 150 μM) induced only a short lag before reductase activity began. Moderate levels of sulfide (<1 mM) had no effect on N 2 O reductase activity. Nitrous oxide reductase displayed Michaelis-Menten kinetics in sediments from freshwater ( K m = 2.17 μM), estuarine ( K m = 14.5 μM), and alkaline-saline ( K m = 501 μM) environments. An in situ assay was devised in which a solution of N 2 O was injected into sealed glass cores containing intact sediment. Two estimates of net rates of denitrification in San Francisco Bay under approximated in situ conditions were 0.009 and 0.041 mmol of N 2 O per m 2 per h. Addition of chlorate to inhibit denitrification in these intact-core experiments (to estimate gross rates of N 2 O consumption) resulted in approximately a 14% upward revision of estimates of net rates. These results were comparable to an in situ estimate of 0.022 mmol of N 2 O per m 2 per h made with the acetylene block assay.