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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 7575-7577, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.7575-7577.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SHORT REPORT

Impact of Bacterial NO3– Transport on Sediment Biogeochemistry

Mikio Sayama,1 Nils Risgaard-Petersen,2* Lars Peter Nielsen,3 Henrik Fossing,2 and Peter Bondo Christensen2

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan,1 National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Marine Ecology, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark,2 University of Aarhus, Institute of Biology, Ny Munkegade, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark3

Received 14 March 2005/ Accepted 5 July 2005


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ABSTRACT
 
Experiments demonstrated that Beggiatoa could induce a H2S-depleted suboxic zone of more than 10 mm in marine sediments and cause a divergence in sediment NO3– reduction from denitrification to dissimilatory NO3– reduction to ammonium. pH, O2, and H2S profiles indicated that the bacteria oxidized H2S with NO3– and transported S0 to the sediment surface for aerobic oxidation.


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INTRODUCTION
 
Large species of white sulfur bacteria in the family Beggiatoaceae may accumulate and transport NO3– at intracellular concentrations up to 500 mM (5, 10, 18, 19). Therefore, it has been suggested that anaerobic H2S oxidation coupled with dissimilatory NO3– reduction to ammonium (DNRA) by these bacteria contributes to the formation of a suboxic zone. The suboxic zones are characterized by positive redox potential and only trace concentrations of free H2S, in spite of high sulfate reduction rates (5-7, 10, 13). Calculations based on NO3– content, mobility, and biomass distributions of Beggiatoa or Thioploca in marine sediments have indicated that bacterial transport and reduction of NO3– may indeed match H2S production and influence distribution of H2S in the sediment (11, 18). The extent to which this potential is realized within marine sediments is, however, not clear.

Sulfide-depleted surface sediment is essential for survival of benthic infauna, and the pathway of benthic NO3– reduction is important for control of eutrophication in nitrogen-limited coastal waters. In this study, we wanted to get more direct measures of the environmental role of Beggiatoa spp. by measuring sediment profiles of O2, pH, and S and turnover rates of N compounds in the presence and absence of natural Beggiatoa populations.

Sediment with Beggiatoa filaments was collected from Aarhus Bay, Denmark, in Plexiglas tubes (inside diameter, 54 mm). The effect of different NO3– or O2 concentrations on pore water chemistry was investigated on intact sediment samples, while the impact of Beggiatoa filaments was studied in reconstructed samples prepared as follows. The upper 3 cm containing the bulk of Beggiatoa filaments was cut off and kept separately in beakers. The remaining sediment was homogenized, transferred to new Plexiglas tubes, and kept with H2S-enriched anoxic bottom water for 24 h to kill the remaining Beggiatoa filaments. The effect was confirmed by microscopical inspection. The sediment cores were hereafter left for 6 h in aerated sulfide-free seawater. Beggiatoa filaments from beakers were then added to the surface of 10 cores with broad pipettes, the remaining 10 cores serving as controls. Filaments with a diameter of approximately 13 µm dominated the Beggiatoa community completely. All cores were kept at 16°C in aquariums with seawater renewed daily; Beggiatoa cores and control cores were incubated in separate aquariums. The O2 concentration was maintained at 160 ± 10 µM. Half of the cores were incubated at a NO3– concentration of 47 ± 2 µM, while the other half was incubated at an in situ NO3– concentration (2 µM).

Pore water O2, {Sigma}H2S (H2S plus HS– plus S2–), and pH profiles were measured with microsensors (8, 14, 15). Profiles of pore water and cellular NO3– were determined as described in reference 18, and NO3 was measured according to Braman and Hendrix (1). For measurement of denitrification and DNRA, 15NO3– (50 µM, 98 atom%) was added to two aquariums containing reconstructed sediment cores with or without Beggiatoa filaments, respectively (n = 4 for each treatment). 15NO3– was renewed daily, and effluxes of 15N-labeled N2 and NH4+ were measured for 14 days according to Christensen et al. (3). 15N2 and 15NH4+ were determined according to Risgaard-Petersen et al. (16, 17).

It has long been recognized that oxidation of H2S with O2 in Beggiatoa mats on the sediment surface acts as an efficient filter and a final barrier to the release of the toxic H2S to the water phase (4, 9). Previous descriptive studies have further indicated that oxidation of H2S with NO3– in Beggiatoa- or Thioploca-colonized sediments can act in a similar manner (5, 11, 18). Here we provide experimental evidence for this hypothesis. Our data show directly that Beggiatoa can induce rapid movement of the {Sigma}H2S front ({Sigma}H2S > 0.5 µM) deeper into the sediment and that this is coupled to NO3– transport (Fig. 1). In contrast to pure chemical immobilization of H2S (e.g., see reference 2), this process is independent of sediment resuspension and fauna-mediated bioturbation and is able to proceed as long as sufficient NO3– is available for the oxidation of H2S. In the absence of infauna and with the next resuspension event possibly not occurring for a long time, the migrating Beggiatoa may thus serve to prepare the sediment for infaunal recolonization by creating a less hostile (i.e., H2S free) environment.



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  		FIG. 1. Profiles of {Sigma}H2S (circles), cellular pool of NO3– (squares), and pH (triangles). (A to C) Profiles in reconstructed sediment cores inoculated with Beggiatoa (open symbols) and control cores without Beggiatoa filaments (closed symbols) after 1 and 4 days of incubation. (D to F) Profiles in natural Beggiatoa-colonized sediments exposed to an in situ NO3– concentration of 1 µM (closed symbols) and with NO3–-enriched bottom water (50 µM, open symbols). Error bars = standard error (n = 3 for {Sigma}H2S and n = 2 for NO3–). The pH profiles are averaged from three profiles. Oxygen penetrated less than 0.2 mm in all cores and is not shown.

In the presence of Beggiatoa, DNRA was the predominant benthic NO3– reduction pathway. In contrast, denitrification was the only detectable pathway in the absence of Beggiatoa (Fig. 2). In theory, other, smaller bacteria that accompanied the transposed Beggiatoa tufts might be involved, but the instant and persistent DNRA activity strongly suggests that the large biomass of Beggiatoa was the primary agent.



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  		FIG. 2. Production of 15N2 (circles) and 15NH4+ (squares) during a 14-day time course from reconstructed sediment cores in the presence (open symbols) and absence (i.e., control cores) of Beggiatoa (closed symbols). Error bars indicate standard error (n = 4).

Beggiatoa performs H2S oxidation in two steps (12, 20). H2S is first oxidized:

(1)
Then S0 is oxidized:

(2)
The first step increases pH, while the second step decrease pH, and together the two processes are pH neutral. The distinct sigmoid pH profile in the Beggiatoa-inhabited sediment cores (Fig. 1) thus indicates a spatial separation of the processes. The pH maximum right at the H2S front clearly indicates the location of the first step (reaction 1). Further, the distinct pH minimum at the oxic-anoxic interface strongly suggests that the Beggiatoa filaments prefer the energetically more favorable and much more acidogenic aerobic oxidation of S0:

(3)
A rapid disappearance of the subsurface pH minimum after reducing the O2 concentration in the overlying water of Beggiatoa-colonized sediment (Fig. 3) further supported the proposed combined anaerobic-aerobic H2S oxidation mediated by NO3– and S0 transport (the combination of reactions 1 and 3). This mechanism also implies a fourfold better utilization of NO3–, as the first step only accounts for one-fourth of the complete H2S oxidation to SO42.



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  		FIG. 3. Change in pH profiles in Beggiatoa-colonized sediment cores following an immediate oxygen reduction in the water column from 266 µM to 30 µM. The time zero pH profile (closed circles) was measured at 266 µM O2 and is averaged from pH measurements at four independent sites. pH was subsequently measured at the same site 6, 16, and 27 min after the O2 concentration was reduced to 30 µM (open symbols). O2 penetrated to 0.25 ± 0.03 mm (n = 7, broken line) at the high O2 concentration. A few minutes after O2 was reduced to 30 µM in the bottom water, no O2 was detectable in the sediment. {Sigma}H2S was detectable from a depth of approximately 5 mm.

In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that bacterial nitrate transport is yet another complex mechanism that really has to be taken into account to understand how sulfide-depleted sediment environments are sustained.


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
Kitte Gerlich Lauridsen, Marlene Venø Skjærbæk, Anna Haxen, and Egon Frandsen are thanked for skillful technical assistance in the laboratory.

The study was supported by the Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish Natural Science Foundation (N.R.-P.) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, contract 14208065 (M.S.).


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FOOTNOTES
 
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Marine Ecology, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark. Phone: 45 8920 1478. Fax: 45 8920 1414. E-mail: nri{at}dmu.dk. Back


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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 7575-7577, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.7575-7577.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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  • Kamp, A., Stief, P., Schulz-Vogt, H. N. (2006). Anaerobic sulfide oxidation with nitrate by a freshwater beggiatoa enrichment culture.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 4755-4760 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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