Open AccessImpact of dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations and pH on growth of the chemolithoautotrophic epsilonproteobacterium S ulfurimonas gotlandica GD1 T
Author(s) -
Mammitzsch Kerstin,
Jost Günter,
Jürgens Klaus
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
microbiologyopen
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.881
H-Index - 36
ISSN - 2045-8827
DOI - 10.1002/mbo3.153
Subject(s) - anoxic waters , sulfur , dissolved organic carbon , substrate (aquarium) , chemistry , environmental chemistry , total inorganic carbon , saturation (graph theory) , redox , inorganic chemistry , ecology , carbon dioxide , biology , organic chemistry , mathematics , combinatorics
Epsilonproteobacteria have been found globally distributed in marine anoxic/sulfidic areas mediating relevant transformations within the sulfur and nitrogen cycles. In the Baltic Sea redox zones, chemoautotrophic epsilonproteobacteria mainly belong to the Sulfurimonas gotlandica GD17 cluster for which recently a representative strain, S . gotlandica GD1 T , could be established as a model organism. In this study, the potential effects of changes in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and pH on S . gotlandica GD1 T were examined. Bacterial cell abundance within a broad range of DIC concentrations and pH values were monitored and substrate utilization was determined. The results showed that the DIC saturation concentration for achieving maximal cell numbers was already reached at 800 μ mol L −1 , which is well below in situ DIC levels. The pH optimum was between 6.6 and 8.0. Within a pH range of 6.6–7.1 there was no significant difference in substrate utilization; however, at lower pH values maximum cell abundance decreased sharply and cell‐specific substrate consumption increased.