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Title: Consortia of low-abundance bacteria drive sulfate reduction-dependent degradation of fermentation products in peat soil microcosms

Journal Article · · The ISME Journal

Dissimilatory sulfate reduction in peatlands is sustained by a cryptic sulfur cycle and effectively competes with methanogenic degradation pathways. In a series of peat soil microcosms incubated over 50 days, we identified bacterial consortia that responded to small, periodic additions of individual fermentation products (formate, acetate, propionate, lactate or butyrate) in the presence or absence of sulfate. Under sulfate supplementation, net sulfate turnover (ST) steadily increased to 16-174 nmol cm -3 per day and almost completely blocked methanogenesis. 16S rRNA gene and cDNA amplicon sequencing identified microorganisms whose increases in ribosome numbers strongly correlated to ST. Natively abundant (≥0.1% estimated genome abundance) species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs) showed no significant response to sulfate. In contrast, low-abundance OTUs responded significantly to sulfate in incubations with propionate, lactate and butyrate. These OTUs included members of recognized sulfate-reducing taxa (Desulfosporosinus, Desulfopila, Desulfomonile, Desulfovibrio) and also members of taxa that are either yet unknown sulfate reducers or metabolic interaction partners thereof. Most responsive OTUs markedly increased their ribosome content but only weakly increased in abundance. Responsive Desulfosporosinus OTUs even maintained a constantly low population size throughout 50 days, which suggests a novel strategy of rare biosphere members to display activity. Interestingly, two OTUs of the non-sulfate-reducing genus Telmatospirillum (Alphaproteobacteria) showed strongly contrasting preferences towards sulfate in butyrate-amended microcosms, corroborating that closely related microorganisms are not necessarily ecologically coherent. We show that diverse consortia of low-abundance microorganisms can perform peat soil sulfate reduction, a process that exerts control on methane production in these climate-relevant ecosystems.

Research Organization:
USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
German Research Foundation (DFG); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; PCIG14- GA-2013-630188
OSTI ID:
1347110
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1377513
Journal Information:
The ISME Journal, Vol. 10, Issue 10; ISSN 1751-7362
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 96 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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