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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Published on: October 15, 2015
Generation of zero-valent sulfur from dissimilatory sulfate reduction in sulfate-reducing microorganisms
Shanquan Wang1, Qihong Lu1, Zhiwei Liang1
1Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Abstract:
Dissimilatory sulfate reduction (DSR) mediated by sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRMs) plays a pivotal role in global sulfur, carbon, oxygen, and iron cycles since at least 3.5 billion y ago. The canonical DSR pathway is believed to be sulfate reduction to sulfide. Herein, we report a DSR pathway in phylogenetically diverse SRMs through which zero-valent sulfur (ZVS) is directly generated. We identified that approximately 9% of sulfate reduction was directed toward ZVS with S8 as a predominant product, and the ratio of sulfate-to-ZVS could be changed with SRMs' growth conditions, particularly the medium salinity. Further coculturing experiments and metadata analyses revealed that DSR-derived ZVS supported the growth of various ZVS-metabolizing microorganisms, highlighting this pathway as an essential component of the sulfur biogeochemical cycle.
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