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Relationships between sulfate-reducing and methane-producing bacteria

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Summary

Sulfate ions in the muddy sediments of Lake Vechten are consumed by sulfate-reducing bacteria of which the abundance is limited by the concentration of these ions. Methane producers are found deeper in the mud at lower concentrations of hydrogen sulphide.

The turnover rate constant (k) of L-lactate, calculated from the decline in specific activity of labeled acid, was 2.37 h−1. The average L-lactate pool size was 12.2 µg per gram of wet mud, giving a turnover rate of 28.9 µg of lactate/gram of mud per h. The turnover rate constant of acetate was 0.35 h−1 and the average pool size 5.7 µg per gram of wet mud, giving a rate of disappearance of 2.0 µg of acetate/gram of mud per h.

The formation of C14H4 from [U-C14]-L-lactate, suggests a substrate relationship between sulfate-reducing and methane-producing bacteria. Results of chemostat experiments gave further supporting evidence of such a relationship. The influence of an acetate-producing organism,Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, on the fermentation of limiting amounts of acetate by a methane-producing organism,Methanobacterium sp., was studied in mixed continuous cultures. The results of these experiments indicated the existence of a commensalism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Limnological Institute ‘Vijverhof’, Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands

    Th. E. Cappenberg

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  1. Th. E. Cappenberg
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Paper read at the Symposium on the Sulphur Cycle, Wageningen, May 1974.

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Cappenberg, T.E. Relationships between sulfate-reducing and methane-producing bacteria. Plant Soil 43, 125–139 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928481

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