Open AccessThe effect of molecular oxygen on sulfite reduction by Shewanella putrefaciens
Author(s) -
Dawood Zorina,
Ehrenreich Liezle,
Brözel Volker S
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb13113.x
Subject(s) - sulfite , shewanella putrefaciens , oxygen , chemistry , electron acceptor , sulfide , biofilm , microaerophile , electron donor , sulfur , hydrogen sulfide , inorganic chemistry , environmental chemistry , bacteria , photochemistry , biochemistry , catalysis , organic chemistry , biology , genetics
Recently, Shewanella putrefaciens isolated from an industrial cooling water system has been shown to play a role in microbially influenced corrosion. In this study S. putrefaciens isolated from industrial cooling waters was shown to produce low levels of hydrogen sulfide from sulfite at dissolved oxygen concentrations up to 1.5 mg l −1 oxygen. Although oxygen is the preferred electron acceptor with the highest energy yield, some of the electrons were diverted to sulfite. When the starting inoculum was from a sulfite‐reducing culture, the growth rate and oxygen depletion rate were lower compared to when the inoculum was from an aerobic culture that did not reduce sulfite, indicating that sulfite reduction occurred concurrently with oxygen reduction. The reduction of sulfite by S. putrefaciens under microaerophilic as well as anaerobic conditions points towards a more significant role of this species in microbially influenced corrosion when growing as a biofilm.