Widespread marine and freshwater distributions of active sulfoquinovose-degrading bacteria

Sulfoquinovose (SQ), a sulfonated sugar produced on a gigaton scale each year, contributes to global sulfur cycling, yet the microbes and pathways mediating its turnover in the environment have been inferred largely from genomic potential rather than direct activity. Here, we coupled incubations of environmental samples with 13C-labeled SQ to DNA-stable isotope probing to identify active SQ carbon assimilators across estuary, mangrove, and lake ecosystems. In estuarine communities, Vibrio and Cognatishimia incorporated SQ-derived 13C; Novosphingobium dominated in the mangrove, and Agrobacterium in the lake. Pure-culture experiments, coupled with comparative proteomics and gene knockout validation, demonstrated that Vibrio strains degrade SQ via modified sulfoglycolytic Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas and Entner-Doudoroff pathways to produce the environmentally significant organosulfur 2,3-dihydroxypropanesulfonate. Comparative genomic analyses suggested that closely related genome representatives of Novosphingobium, Cognatishimia, and Agrobacterium encode the sulfolytic SQ monooxygenase pathway. A global survey of aquatic microbial genomes indicated that over 9% harbor SQ degradation clusters, supporting a widespread distribution of bacterial SQ catabolic potential in aquatic environments.