Evidence for the Existence of Autotrophic Nitrate-Reducing Fe(II)-Oxidizing Bacteria in Marine Coastal Sediment | Zendy

Katja Laufer | Zendy; Hans Røy | Zendy; Bo Barker Jørgensen | Zendy; Andreas Kappler | Zendy

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Evidence for the Existence of Autotrophic Nitrate-Reducing Fe(II)-Oxidizing Bacteria in Marine Coastal Sediment

Author(s) -

Katja Laufer,

Hans Røy,

Bo Barker Jørgensen,

Andreas Kappler

Publication year - 2016

Publication title -

applied and environmental microbiology

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552

H-Index - 324

eISSN - 1070-6291

pISSN - 0099-2240

DOI - 10.1128/aem.01570-16

Subject(s) - nitrate , autotroph , environmental chemistry , chemistry , nitrite , heterotroph , denitrification , oxidizing agent , anoxic waters , inorganic chemistry , nitrogen , bacteria , biology , organic chemistry , genetics

Nitrate-reducing Fe(II)-oxidizing microorganisms were described for the first time ca. 20 years ago. Most pure cultures of nitrate-reducing Fe(II) oxidizers can oxidize Fe(II) only under mixotrophic conditions, i.e., when an organic cosubstrate is provided. A small number of nitrate-reducing Fe(II)-oxidizing cultures have been proposed to grow autotrophically, but unambiguous evidence for autotrophy has not always been provided. Thus, it is still unclear whether or to what extent Fe(II) oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction is an enzymatically catalyzed and energy-yielding autotrophic process or whether Fe(II) is abiotically oxidized by nitrite from heterotrophic nitrate reduction. The aim of the present study was to find evidence for the existence of autotrophic nitrate-reducing Fe(II) oxidizers in coastal marine sediments. Microcosm incubations showed that with increasing incubation times, the stoichiometric ratio of reduced nitrate/oxidized Fe(II) [NO 3 - reduced /Fe(II) oxidized ] decreased, indicating a decreasing contribution of heterotrophic denitrification and/or an increasing contribution of autotrophic nitrate-reducing Fe(II) oxidation over time. After incubations of sediment slurries for >10 weeks, nitrate-reducing activity ceased, although nitrate was still present. This suggests that heterotrophic nitrate reduction had ceased due to the depletion of readily available organic carbon. However, after the addition of Fe(II) to these batch incubation mixtures, the nitrate-reducing activity resumed, and Fe(II) was oxidized, indicating the activity of autotrophic nitrate-reducing Fe(II) oxidizers. The concurrent reduction of 14 C-labeled bicarbonate concentrations unambiguously proved that autotrophic C fixation occurred during Fe(II) oxidation and nitrate reduction. Our results clearly demonstrated that autotrophic nitrate-reducing Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria were present in the investigated coastal marine sediments.

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