TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of dissimilatory sulfate reduction on FeIII (hydr)oxide reduction and microbial community development
AU - Kwon, Man Jae
AU - Boyanov, Maxim I.
AU - Antonopoulos, Dionysios A.
AU - Brulc, Jennifer M.
AU - Johnston, Eric R.
AU - Skinner, Kelly A.
AU - Kemner, Kenneth M.
AU - O'Loughlin, Edward J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Kenneth Williams and Philip Long for the Rifle IFRC sediment samples. We also thank Bhoopesh Mishra and the beamline staff for assistance during XAFS data collection; Sarah Owens and Areej Ammar from the NGS-IGSB Core for performing 454 DNA sequencing; Michael McCormick for BET analysis; and Karen Haugen, the associate editor, and three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful editing and insightful reviews of the manuscript. This research is part of the Subsurface Science Scientific Focus Area at Argonne National Laboratory supported by the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. MRCAT/EnviroCAT operations are supported by DOE and the MRCAT/EnviroCAT member institutions. M.J.K. was supported by the Argonne Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and KIST – Gangneung Institute (Grant No. 2Z03860).
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Although dissimilatory iron and sulfate reduction (DIR and DSR) profoundly affect the biogeochemical cycling of C, Fe, and S in subsurface systems, the dynamics of DIR and DSR in the presence of both FeIII (hydr)oxides and sulfate have not been well-studied with mixed microbial populations. This study examined the response of native microbial communities in subsurface sediment from the U.S. Department of Energy's Integrated Field Research Challenge site in Rifle, CO to the availability of sulfate and specific FeIII (hydr)oxide minerals in experimental systems containing lactate as the electron donor, with ferrihydrite, goethite, or lepidocrocite and high (10.2mM) or low (0.2mM) sulfate as electron acceptors. We observed rapid fermentation of lactate to acetate and propionate. FeIII reduction was slow and limited in the presence of low-sulfate, but the extent of FeIII reduction increased more than 10 times with high-sulfate amendments. Furthermore, the extent of FeIII reduction was higher in ferrihydrite or lepidocrocite incubations than in goethite incubations. Propionate produced during fermentation of lactate was used as the electron donor for DSR. The concurrence of sulfate reduction and FeII production suggests that FeII production was driven primarily by reduction of FeIII by biogenic sulfide. X-ray absorption fine-structure analysis confirmed the formation of ferrous sulfide and the presence of O-coordinated ferrous species. 16S rRNA-based microbial community analysis revealed the development of distinct communities with different FeIII (hydr)oxides. These results highlight the highly coupled nature of C, Fe, and S biogeochemical cycles during DIR and DSR and provide new insight into the effects of electron donor utilization, sulfate concentration, and the presence of specific FeIII (hydr)oxide phases on microbial community development.
AB - Although dissimilatory iron and sulfate reduction (DIR and DSR) profoundly affect the biogeochemical cycling of C, Fe, and S in subsurface systems, the dynamics of DIR and DSR in the presence of both FeIII (hydr)oxides and sulfate have not been well-studied with mixed microbial populations. This study examined the response of native microbial communities in subsurface sediment from the U.S. Department of Energy's Integrated Field Research Challenge site in Rifle, CO to the availability of sulfate and specific FeIII (hydr)oxide minerals in experimental systems containing lactate as the electron donor, with ferrihydrite, goethite, or lepidocrocite and high (10.2mM) or low (0.2mM) sulfate as electron acceptors. We observed rapid fermentation of lactate to acetate and propionate. FeIII reduction was slow and limited in the presence of low-sulfate, but the extent of FeIII reduction increased more than 10 times with high-sulfate amendments. Furthermore, the extent of FeIII reduction was higher in ferrihydrite or lepidocrocite incubations than in goethite incubations. Propionate produced during fermentation of lactate was used as the electron donor for DSR. The concurrence of sulfate reduction and FeII production suggests that FeII production was driven primarily by reduction of FeIII by biogenic sulfide. X-ray absorption fine-structure analysis confirmed the formation of ferrous sulfide and the presence of O-coordinated ferrous species. 16S rRNA-based microbial community analysis revealed the development of distinct communities with different FeIII (hydr)oxides. These results highlight the highly coupled nature of C, Fe, and S biogeochemical cycles during DIR and DSR and provide new insight into the effects of electron donor utilization, sulfate concentration, and the presence of specific FeIII (hydr)oxide phases on microbial community development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897644907&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gca.2013.09.037
DO - 10.1016/j.gca.2013.09.037
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897644907
SN - 0016-7037
VL - 129
SP - 177
EP - 190
JO - Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
JF - Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
ER -