Abstract
Sulfolobus strain LM was grown in tetrathionate and thiosulphate-limited continuous culture. CO2 limitation resulted in a decrease of the steady-state biomass and an increase in the specific rate of thiosulphate oxidation so that substrate did not accumulate in the medium. The initial step in thiosulphate utilization appeared to be its conversion to tetrathionate. The affinity for tetrathionate oxidation appeared to increase with prolonged continuous culture giving an apparent K m of about 6 μM tetrathionate, a higher affinity than for thiosulphate oxidation and in the same range as values observed with acidophilic, sulphur-oxidizing eubacteria.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boogerd FC, Bos P, Kuenen JG, Heijnen JJ, Lans RGJM van der (1990) Oxygen and carbon dioxide mass transfer and the aerobic, autotrophic cultivation of moderate and extreme thermophiles: a case study related to the microbial desulfurization of coal. Biotechnol Bioeng 35: 1111–1119
Brock TD, Brock KM, Belly RT, Weiss RL (1972) Sulfolobus: a new genus of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria living at low pH and high temperature. Arch Mikrobiol 84: 54–68
Buckingham JA, Stanbury PF, LeRoux NW (1989) Effect of molybdenum on the efficiency of tetrathionate utilisation by chemostat cultures of Sulfolobus BC. Biotechnol Lett 11: 99–104
Eccleston M, Kelly DP (1978) Oxidation kinetics and chemostat growth kinetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans on tetrathionate and thiosulphate. J Bacteriol 134: 718–727
Emmel T, Sand W, Konig WA, Bock E (1986) Evidence for the existence of a sulphur oxygenase in Sulfolobus brierleyi. J Gen Microbiol 132: 3415–3420
Hazeu W, Bijleveld W, Grotenhuis JTC, Kakes E, Kuenen JG (1986) Kinetics and energetics of reduced sulfur oxidation by chemostat cultures of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 52: 507–518
Huber G, Spinnler C, Gambacorta A, Stetter KO (1989) Metallosphaera sedula gen. and sp. nov. represents a new genus of aerobic, metal-mobilizing, thermoacidophilic archaebacteria. Syst Appl Microbiol 12: 38–47
Javor BJ, Wilmot DB and Vetter RD (1990) pH-Dependent metabolism of thiosulfate and sulfur globules in the chemolithotrophic marine bacterium Thiomicrospira crunogena. Arch Microbiol 154: 231–238
Karavaiko GI, Golovacheva RS, Pivovarova TA, Tzaplina IA, Vartanjan NS (1988) Thermophilic bacteria of the genus Sulfobacillus. In: Norris PR, Kelly DP (eds) Biohydrometallurgy. Symposium Proceedings. Science and Technology Letters, Kew, Surrey, UK, pp 29–41
Kelly DP (1982) Biochemistry of the chemolithotrophic oxidation of inorganic sulphur. Philos Trans R Soc Lond [Biol] 298: 499–528
Kelly DP (1988) Oxidation of sulphur compounds. In: Cole JA, Ferguson SJ (eds) The nitrogen and sulphur cycles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 65–98
Kelly DP (1989) Physiology and biochemistry of unicellular sulfur bacteria. In: Schlegel HG, Bowien B (eds) Autotrophic bacteria. Science Tech Publishers, Madison, pp 193–217
Kelly DP, Chambers LA, Trudinger PA (1969) Cyanolysis and spectro-photometric estimation of trithionate in mixture with thiosulfate and tetrathionate. Anal Chem 41: 898–901
Kelly DP, Mason J, Wood AP (1986) Energy metabolism in chemolithotrophs. In: Verseveld H van, Duine JA (eds) Microbial growth on C1 compounds. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 186–194
Kletzin A (1989) Coupled enzymatic production of sulfite, thiosulfate and hydrogen sulfide from sulfur: purification and properties of a sulfur oxygenase reductase from the facultatively anaerobic archaebacterium Desulfurolobus ambivalens. J Bacterial 171: 1638–1643
Lu W-P, Kelly DP (1983) Purification and some properties of two principal enzymes of the thiosulphate-oxidizing multienzyme system from Thiobacillus A2. J Gen Microbiol 129: 3549–3564
Lu W-P, Kelly DP (1988) Kinetic and energetic aspects of inorganic sulphur compound oxidation by Thiobacillus tepidarius. J Gen Microbiol 134: 865–876
Marsh RM, Norris PR, LeRoux NW (1983) Growth and mineral oxidation studies with Sulfolobus. In: Rossi G, Torma AE (eds) Recent progress in biohydrometallurgy. Associazione Mineraria Sarda, Iglesias, pp 71–81
Norris PR, Marsh RM, Lindstrom EB (1986) Growth of mesophilic and thermophilic acidophilic bacteria on sulfur and tetrathionate. Biotech Appl Biochem 8: 318–329
Norris P, Nixon A, Hart A (1989) Acidophilic, mineral-oxidizing bacteria: the utilization of carbon dioxide with particular reference to autotrophy in Sulfolobus. In: Costa MS da, Duarte JC, Williams RAD (eds) Microbiology of extreme enviroments and its potential for biotechnology. Elsevier Science Publishers, Barking, pp 24–43
Pronk JT, Meulenberg R, Hazeu W, Bos P, Kuenen JG (1990) Oxidation of reduced inorganic sulphur compounds by acidophilic thiobacilli. FEMS Microbiol Rev 75: 293–306
Shivvers DW, Brock TD (1973) Oxidation of elemental sulfur by Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. J Bacteriol 114: 706–710
Stephen H, Stephen T (1963) Solubilities of inorganic and organic compounds. Pergamon Press, Oxford
Vishniac W (1952) The metabolism of Thiobacillus thioparus. I. The oxidation of thiosulfate. J Bacteriol 64: 363–373
Wood AP, Kelly DP, Norris PR (1987) Autotrophic growth of four Sulfolobus strains on tetrathionate and the effect of organic nutrients. Arch Microbiol 146: 382–389
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nixon, A., Norris, P.R. Autotrophic growth and inorganic sulphur compound oxidation by Sulfolobus sp. in chemostat culture. Arch. Microbiol. 157, 155–160 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00245284
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00245284