Abstract—
Although dissimilatory sulfate reduction (DSR) is an important microbial process in subterranean aquifers, its geochemical consequences in this ecosystem remain insufficiently studied. The absence of data on the process rate under in situ conditions prevents quantitative estimation of the sulfur reservoir. This research is aimed at investigation of microbial sulfate reduction in subterranean aquifers associated with the Severnaya coal mine in Kuzbass. Water samples were collected from an artesian borehole broaching the underground horizons of the flooded mine. During over 10 years of sampling the water temperature fluctuated within a narrow range (10–13°C); the water was anoxic (–112 to –174 mV) and contained up to 6 mg/L sulfide. Analysis by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes showed that sulfur-oxidizing bacteria Sulfurovum, Sulfuricurvum, Sulfurospirillum, and Thiothrix predominated in the community. No phylotypes with known ability to carry out DSR were detected. Measurement of sulfate reduction rates with \({\text{Na}}_{{\text{2}}}^{{{\text{35}}}}{\text{S}}{{{\text{O}}}_{{\text{4}}}},\) showed the process to be relatively active, resulting in up to 178 g of reduced sulfur per year at the borehole discharge. Two organisms representing minor components of the community, a psychrophilic and acidophilic Desulfomicrobium sp. DI and a moderately thermophilic Desulfotomaculum LL1, were isolated in pure culture by varying the cultivation condition in a bioreactor. These members of the “rare biosphere” may be responsible for production of reduced sulfur species, which are used by a diverse and numerous sulfur-oxidizing community.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to D. Banks for the help provided in collecting water samples and evaluation of physicochemical parameters in 2006 and to V. Maibakh for the logistic support.
Funding
This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research project no. 19-04-00981 (O.V.K.); isolation and investigation of Desulfomicrobium sp. DI was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research project no. 18-34-00472 (A.A.K.); radiolabeling experiments were supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
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Panova, I.A., Rusanov, I.I., Kadnikov, V.V. et al. Sulfate Reduction in Underground Horizons of a Flooded Coal Mine in Kuzbass. Microbiology 89, 542–550 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261720050185
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261720050185