Microbial sulfur metabolism, particularly the formation and consumption of insoluble elemental sulfur (S0), is an important biogeochemical engine that has been harnessed for applications ranging from bioleaching and biomining to remediation of waste streams. Chlorobaculum tepidum, a low-light-adapted photoautolithotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, oxidizes multiple sulfur species and displays...

UNLABELLED Sulfur is an important element in sustaining microbial communities present in hydrothermal vents. Sulfur oxidation has been extensively studied due to its importance in chemosynthetic pathways in hydrothermal fields; however, less is known about sulfate reduction. Here, the metagenomes of hydrothermal chimneys located on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) were pyro...

Acidithiobacillus caldus (A. caldus) is a common bioleaching bacterium that possesses a sophisticated and highly efficient inorganic sulfur compound metabolism network. Thiosulfate, a central intermediate in the sulfur metabolism network of A. caldus and other sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms, can be metabolized via the tetrathionate intermediate (S4I) pathway catalyzed by thiosulfate:quinol oxi...

A mobilizable suicide vector, pSUP5011, was used to introduce Tn5-mob in a new facultative sulfur lithotrophic bacterium, KCT001, to generate mutants defective in sulfur oxidation (Sox(-)). The Sox(-) mutants were unable to oxidize thiosulfate while grown mixotrophically in the presence of thiosulfate and succinate. The mutants were also impaired in oxidizing other reduced sulfur compounds and ...

The complete genome sequence of Thiobacillus denitrificans ATCC 25259 is the first to become available for an obligately chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-compound-oxidizing, beta-proteobacterium. Analysis of the 2,909,809-bp genome will facilitate our molecular and biochemical understanding of the unusual metabolic repertoire of this bacterium, including its ability to couple denitrification to su...

So-called "sulfur-turf" microbial mats in sulfide containing hot springs (55-70°C, pH 7.3-8.3) in Japan were dominated by a large sausage-shaped bacterium (LSSB) that is closely related to the genus Sulfurihydrogenibium. Several previous reports proposed that the LSSB would be involved in sulfide oxidation in hot spring. However, the LSSB has not been isolated yet, thus there has been no clear ...

Increasing reports of anoxic pathways nitrite oxidation in oxygen deficient systems challenge longstanding ideas about biogeochemical nitrogen turnover. Here, we present stable isotope data from experiments examining the nitrite-oxidizing bacterium, Nitrococcus mobilis, grown under nitrate-reducing conditions. Results confirm that N. mobilis reduces nitrate to low oxygen, ostensibly via oxidore...

Gutless oligochaete worms are found worldwide in the pore waters of marine sediments and live in symbiosis with chemoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. In the Mediterranean, two species of gutless oligochaete worms, Olavius algarvensis and O. ilvae, co-occur in sediments around sea grass beds. These sediments have extremely low sulfide concentrations (< 1 microM), raising the question if O....

The prokaryotic oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds (RISCs) is a topic of utmost importance from a biogeochemical and industrial perspective. Despite sulfur oxidizing bacterial activity is largely known, no quantitative approaches to biological RISCs oxidation have been made, gathering all the complex abiotic and enzymatic stoichiometry involved. Even though in the case of neutrophi...