Dominant sulfate-reducing bacteria at different pH and mechanism of sulfate reduction

Abstract:

[Objective] To analyze the influence of pH on sulfate-reducing properties of sulfate-reducing bacteria enriched from marine sediments, identify the bacterial community composition, predict the key genes of sulfate reduction, and explore the mechanism of sulfate reduction. [Methods] The sulfate reduction rates of sulfate-reducing bacteria at different pH conditions were determined. On this basis, high-throughput sequencing and PICRUSt were employed to analyze the dominant sulfate-reducing bacteria and the relative abundance of sulfate-reducing genes. [Results] The biomass (OD₆₀₀) and sulfate reduction rate of sulfate-reducing bacteria varied significantly under different pH conditions (P<0.01) and reached their peak values (0.34±0.01 and 96.52%±0.44%, respectively) at pH 5.0. According to the high-throughput sequencing data, the abundance and diversity of bacteria were the highest at pH 5.0. The dominant bacteria were Pseudomonas and Bacillus, and the assimilatory sulfate reduction-related genes had higher abundance. [Conclusion] Sulfate-reducing bacteria are suitable to be enriched and cultured at pH 5.0. Under this condition, the high sulfate reduction rate is attributed to the assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway. The findings provide experimental support for revealing sulfate reduction mechanism and broaden the germplasm resources of sulfate-reducing bacteria for application.