Abstract
Mass-spectrometric investigation of carbon isotope composition (δ13C) was carried out for suspended organic matter and dissolved mineral compounds for the water column of some meromictic water bodies differing in salinity and trophic state. As a rule, a more pronounced carbon isotope fractionation (resulting from the metabolism of phytoplankton and anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria) was revealed in the zones of enhanced oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis. Carbon isotope fractionation at the border between oxidized and reduced waters depends both on the activity of microbial communities and on the dominant species of phototrophic microorganisms. Analysis of the distribution profiles of the isotopic composition of suspended organic matter and dissolved mineral carbon revealed active mineralization of the organic matter newly formed via anoxygenic photosynthesis in the monimolimnion by microbial communities, resulting in the release of isotopically light carbon dioxide. Mineral carbon in the anaerobic zones of highly productive meromictic water bodies is therefore enriched with the light 12C isotope.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gorlenko, V.M., Dubinina, G.A., and Kuznetsov, S.I., Ekologiya vodnykh mikroorganizmov (Ecology of Aquatic Microorganisms), Moscow: Nauka, 1977.
Gorlenko, V.M., History of the Study of Biodiversity of Photosynthetic Bacteria, Mikrobiologiya, 2004, vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 633–643 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 541–550].
Ivanov, M.V., Rusanov, I.I., Pimenov, N.V., Bairamov, I.T., Yusupov, S.K., Savvichev, A.S., Lein, A.Yu., and Sapozhnikov, V.V., Microbial Processes of the Carbon and Sulfur Cycles in Lake Mogil’noe, Mikrobiologiya, 2001, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 675–686 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 583–593].
Bondar’, V.A., Gogotova, G.I., and Zyakun, A.M., On Fractioning of Carbon Isotopes by Photoautotrophic Microorganisms with Different Pathways of Carbon Assimilation, Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 1976, vol. 228, no. 3, pp. 720–722.
Ruby, E.G., Jannasch, H.W., and Deuser, W.G., Fractionation of Stable Carbon Isotopes during Chemoautotrophic Growth of Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria, Appl. Environ. Microbiol, 1987, vol. 53, pp. 1940–1943.
Ivanov, M.V., Lein, A.Yu., Miller, Yu.M., Yusupov, S.K., Pimenov, N.V., Verli, B., Rusanov, I.I., and Zender, A., The Effect of Microorganisms and Seasonal Factors on the Isotopic Composition of Particulate Organic Carbon from the Black Sea, Mikrobiologiya, 2000, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 541–552 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 449–459].
Ohkouchi, N., Nakajima, Y., Matsumoto, K., Suga, H., Ogawa, N.O., Oguri, K., Koizumi, Y., Fukui, M., and Kitazato, H., Organic Geochemistry in a Saline Meromictic Lake Kaiike, Japan, Abstr. NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Past and Present Water Column Anoxia, 4–8 Oct. 2003, Crimea, Ukraine, pp. 68–69.
Camacho, A., Erez, J., Chicote, A., Florin, M., Squires, M.M., Lehmann, C., and Bachofen, R., Microbial Microstratification, Inorganic Carbon Photoassimilation and Dark Carbon Fixation at the Chemocline of the Meromictic Lake Cadagno (Switzerland) and Its Relevance To the Food Web, Aquat. Sci., 2001, vol. 63, pp. 91–106.
Rogozin, D.Yu., Pimenov, N.V., Kosolapov, D.B., Chan’kovskaya, Yu.V., and Degermendzhi, A.G., Thin-Layer Vertical Distributions of Purple Sulfur Bacteria in Chemocline Zones of Meromictic Lakes Shira and Shunet (Khakassia), Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 2005, vol. 400, no. 3, pp. 426–429 [Dokl. Biol. Sci. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 400, no. 3, pp. 54–56].
Zyakun, A.M., Microbial Fractioning of Carbon Isotopes and Its Application in Biotechnological Research, Doctoral (Biol.) Dissertation, Pushchino, 1994.
Pimenov, N.V., Rusanov, I.I., Karnachuk, O.V., Rogozin, D.Yu., Bryantseva, I.A., Lunina, O.N., Yusupov, S.K., Parnachev, V.P., and Ivanov, M.V., Microbial Processes of the Carbon and Sulfur Cycles in Lake Shira (Khakasia), Mikrobiologiya, 2003, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 259–267 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 221–229].
Lunina, O.N., Bryantseva, I.A., Akimov, V.N., Rusanov, I.I., Rogozin, D.Yu., Barinova, E.S., Lysenko, A.M., and Pimenov, N.V., Seasonal Changes in the Structure of the Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacterial Community in Lake Shunet, Khakassia, Mikrobiologiya, 2007, vol. 76, no. 3, pp. 416–428 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 76, no. 3, pp. 368–379].
Lunina, O., Gorlenko, V.M., Popova, O.A., Akimov, V.N., Rusanov, I.I., and Pimenov, N.V., Seasonal Changes in the Structure of the Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacterial Community in Lake Mogilnoe, a Relict Lake on Kil’din Island in the Barents Sea, Mikrobiologiya, 2005, vol. 74, no. 5, pp. 677–686 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 588–596].
Lunina, O.N. and Bryantseva, I.A., Akimov, V.N., Rusanov, I.I., Barinova, E.S., Lysenko, A.M, Rogozin, D.Yu., and Pimenov N.V. Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacterial Community of Lake Shira (Khakassia), Mikrobiologiya, 2007, vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 469–479 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 469–479].
Lunina, O.N., Kevbrina, M.V., Akimov, V.N., and Pimenov, N.V., Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria of the High-Altitude Meromictic Lake Gek-Gel, Azerbaijan, Mikrobiologiya, 2008, vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 675–682 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 602–609].
Karnachuk, O.V., Pimenov, N.V., Yusupov, S.K., Frank, Yu.A., Pukhakka, Ya.A., and Ivanov, M.V., Distribution, Diversity, and Activity of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in the Water Column in Gek-Gel Lake, Azerbaijan, Mikrobiologiya, 2006, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 101–109 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 82–89].
Kallistova, A.Yu., Kevbrina, M.V., Pimenov, N.V., Rusanov, I.I., Rogozin, D.Yu., Verli, B., and Nozhzhevnikova, A.N., Sulfate Reduction and Methanogenesis in the Shira and Shunet Meromictic Lakes (Khakasia, Russia), Mikrobiologiya, 2006, vol. 75, no. 6, pp. 828–835 [Microbiology (Engl. Transl.), vol. 75, no. 6, pp. 720–726].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © N.V. Pimenov, O.N. Lunina, T.S. Prusakova, I.I. Rusanov, M.V. Ivanov, 2008, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2008, Vol. 77, No. 6, pp. 839–847.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pimenov, N.V., Lunina, O.N., Prusakova, T.S. et al. Biological fractionation of stable carbon isotopes at the aerobic/anaerobic water interface of meromictic water bodies. Microbiology 77, 751–759 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261708060131
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261708060131