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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2005, p. 5348-5353, Vol. 71, No. 9
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.9.5348-5353.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Evidence for Aceticlastic Methanogenesis in the Presence of Sulfate in a Gas Condensate-Contaminated Aquifer

Christopher G. Struchtemeyer, Mostafa S. Elshahed, Kathleen E. Duncan, and Michael J. McInerney*

Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

Received 20 January 2005/ Accepted 18 April 2005

The anaerobic metabolism of acetate was studied in sediments and groundwater from a gas condensate-contaminated aquifer in an aquifer where geochemical evidence implicated sulfate reduction and methanogenesis as the predominant terminal electron-accepting processes. Most-probable-number tubes containing acetate and microcosms containing either [2-14C]acetate or [U-14C]acetate produced higher quantities of CH4 compared to CO2 in the presence or absence of sulfate.14CH4 accounted for 70 to 100% of the total labeled gas in the [14C]acetate microcosms regardless of whether sulfate was present or not. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the acetate enrichments both with and without sulfate using Archaea-specific primers showed identical predominant bands that had 99% sequence similarity to members of Methanosaetaceae. Clone libraries containing archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences amplified from sediment from the contaminated portion of the aquifer showed that 180 of the 190 clones sequenced belonged to the Methanosaetaceae. The production of methane and the high frequency of sequences from the Methanosaetaceae in acetate enrichments with and without sulfate indicate that aceticlastic methanogenesis was the predominant fate of acetate at this site even though sulfate-reducing bacteria would be expected to consume acetate in the presence of sulfate.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 770 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK 73019. Phone: (405) 325-6050. Fax: (405) 325-7619. E-mail: mcinerney{at}ou.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2005, p. 5348-5353, Vol. 71, No. 9
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.9.5348-5353.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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