This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fey, A.
Right arrow Articles by Conrad, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fey, A.
Right arrow Articles by Conrad, R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Fey, A.
Right arrow Articles by Conrad, R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2000, p. 4790-4797, Vol. 66, No. 11
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Effect of Temperature on Carbon and Electron Flow and on the Archaeal Community in Methanogenic Rice Field Soil

Axel Fey and Ralf Conrad*

Max-Planck-Institut für Terrestrische Mikrobiologie, D-35043 Marburg, Germany

Received 21 June 2000/Accepted 24 August 2000

Temperature is an important factor controlling CH4 production in anoxic rice soils. Soil slurries, prepared from Italian rice field soil, were incubated anaerobically in the dark at six temperatures of between 10 to 37°C or in a temperature gradient block covering the same temperature range at intervals of 1°C. Methane production reached quasi-steady state after 60 to 90 days. Steady-state CH4 production rates increased with temperature, with an apparent activation energy of 61 kJ mol-1. Steady-state partial pressures of the methanogenic precursor H2 also increased with increasing temperature from <0.5 to 3.5 Pa, so that the Gibbs free energy change of H2 plus CO2-dependent methanogenesis was kept at -20 to -25 kJ mol of CH4-1 over the whole temperature range. Steady-state concentrations of the methanogenic precursor acetate, on the other hand, increased with decreasing temperature from <5 to 50 µM. Simultaneously, the relative contribution of H2 as methanogenic precursor decreased, as determined by the conversion of radioactive bicarbonate to 14CH4, so that the carbon and electron flow to CH4 was increasingly dominated by acetate, indicating that psychrotolerant homoacetogenesis was important. The relative composition of the archaeal community was determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the 16S rRNA genes (16S rDNA). T-RFLP analysis differentiated the archaeal Methanobacteriaceae, Methanomicrobiaceae, Methanosaetaceae, Methanosarcinaceae, and Rice clusters I, III, IV, V, and VI, which were all present in the rice field soil incubated at different temperatures. The 16S rRNA genes of Rice cluster I and Methanosaetaceae were the most frequent methanogenic groups. The relative abundance of Rice cluster I decreased with temperature. The substrates used by this microbial cluster, and thus its function in the microbial community, are unknown. The relative abundance of acetoclastic methanogens, on the other hand, was consistent with their physiology and the acetate concentrations observed at the different temperatures, i.e., the high-acetate-requiring Methanosarcinaceae decreased and the more modest Methanosaetaceae increased with increasing temperature. Our results demonstrate that temperature not only affected the activity but also changed the structure and the function (carbon and electron flow) of a complex methanogenic system.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany. Phone: 49 (6421) 178-801. Fax: 49 (6421) 178-809. E-mail: conrad{at}mailer.uni-marburg.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2000, p. 4790-4797, Vol. 66, No. 11
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Zhang, G., Jiang, N., Liu, X., Dong, X. (2008). Methanogenesis from Methanol at Low Temperatures by a Novel Psychrophilic Methanogen, "Methanolobus psychrophilus" sp. nov., Prevalent in Zoige Wetland of the Tibetan Plateau. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6114-6120 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Peng, J., Lu, Z., Rui, J., Lu, Y. (2008). Dynamics of the Methanogenic Archaeal Community during Plant Residue Decomposition in an Anoxic Rice Field Soil. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 2894-2901 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sakai, S., Imachi, H., Sekiguchi, Y., Ohashi, A., Harada, H., Kamagata, Y. (2007). Isolation of Key Methanogens for Global Methane Emission from Rice Paddy Fields: a Novel Isolate Affiliated with the Clone Cluster Rice Cluster I. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 4326-4331 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Metje, M., Frenzel, P. (2005). Effect of Temperature on Anaerobic Ethanol Oxidation and Methanogenesis in Acidic Peat from a Northern Wetland. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 8191-8200 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Weston, N. B., Joye, S. B. (2005). Temperature-driven decoupling of key phases of organic matter degradation in marine sediments. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 17036-17040 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Galand, P. E., Fritze, H., Conrad, R., Yrjala, K. (2005). Pathways for Methanogenesis and Diversity of Methanogenic Archaea in Three Boreal Peatland Ecosystems. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 2195-2198 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yu, C.-P., Ahuja, R., Sayler, G., Chu, K.-H. (2005). Quantitative Molecular Assay for Fingerprinting Microbial Communities of Wastewater and Estrogen-Degrading Consortia. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 1433-1444 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Macbeth, T. W., Cummings, D. E., Spring, S., Petzke, L. M., Sorenson, K. S. Jr. (2004). Molecular Characterization of a Dechlorinating Community Resulting from In Situ Biostimulation in a Trichloroethene-Contaminated Deep, Fractured Basalt Aquifer and Comparison to a Derivative Laboratory Culture. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 7329-7341 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Donovan, S. E., Purdy, K. J., Kane, M. D., Eggleton, P. (2004). Comparison of Euryarchaea Strains in the Guts and Food-Soil of the Soil-Feeding Termite Cubitermes fungifaber across Different Soil Types. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 3884-3892 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»