The 16S rDNA Phylogenetic Composition of Bacteria Implicated in Sulfur Redox Cycles and Associated Sulfur Isotope Fractionation

The reduction of sulfate ion to sulfide species by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) is accompanied by sulfur isotope fractionation, measured in terms of changes in the δ^{34}S values for sulfate and sulfide ions relative to a defined standard. In open environments, the S-isotope compositions of sulfate and sulfide can be affected by loss from the system of sulfide species as gaseous H2S, insoluble metal sulfides such as FeS2, organic complexes or by re-oxidation. The S-isotope fractionation accompanying bacterial sulfate reduction in nature is often much larger than the maxima obtained in chemical and bacterial sulfate reduction experiments in the laboratory. One mechanism postulated for the large natural S-isotope selectivity depends on repetitive reduction-oxidation cycles. In turn, this would require a level of tolerance to oxygen by SRB in the sedimentary environment, contrary to laboratory experience with SRB strains. Bird Lake (The Coorong, South Australia) is a small calcareous, evaporative lake, where average Δ^{34}S (δ^{34}Ssulfate - δ^{34}Ssulfide) values for groundwater at 16 of the 27 sites sampled periodically since 1974, vary from 15.0 ‰ to 62.3 ‰ within the range -1.8 ‰ to 70.6 ‰. Wide fluctuations in δ34Ssulfide values at individual sites are the significant factor affecting the variability of Δ^{34}S values. Values for δ18Osulfate are elevated over that of the sulfate source to an unusual extent, reflecting re-oxidation of sulfur species and O- isotope exchange between some of these species and water. One aspect of investigations at Bird Lake was the evaluation of bacterial populations in subsurface sediments and their role in sulfur cycling. To achieve this, microcosms were established with subsurface sediment and incubated under a nitrogen atmosphere, for up to 119 days. These were sampled at various times to determine sulfur species concentrations and sulfur isotope fractionation and to generate 16S rDNA clone libraries. Results indicated cyclic fluctuations of both sulfate concentration and δ^{34}S values and a narrowing of population diversity; including decreases in numbers of alpha and gamma-proteobacteria, succession in species of SRB, the later appearance of sulfur-reducing bacteria and the presence of potentially sulfur- oxidizing bacteria throughout the incubation. The occurrence of these bacterial types indicates a complex sulfur redox cycle occurring in a supposedly anaerobic environment. The implication of these findings is that natural bacterial sulfate reduction is not a simple uni-directional process but a very complex redox system, even in a discrete molecular environment that would normally be considered uniformly anaerobic.