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Winderl, C. ; Penning, H. ; von Netzer, F. ; Meckenstock, R.U. ; Lüders, T.

DNA-SIP identifies sulfate-reducing Clostridia as important toluene degraders in tar-oil-contaminated aquifer sediment.

ISME J. 4, 1314-1325 (2010)
DOI PMC
Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Global groundwater resources are constantly challenged by a multitude of contaminants such as aromatic hydrocarbons. Especially in anaerobic habitats, a large diversity of unrecognized microbial populations may be responsible for their degradation. Still, our present understanding of the respective microbiota and their ecophysiology is almost exclusively based on a small number of cultured organisms, mostly within the Proteobacteria. Here, by DNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP), we directly identified the most active sulfate-reducing toluene degraders in a diverse sedimentary microbial community originating from a tar-oil-contaminated aquifer at a former coal gasification plant. On incubation of fresh sediments with (13)C(7)-toluene, the production of both sulfide and (13)CO(2) was clearly coupled to the (13)C-labeling of DNA of microbes related to Desulfosporosinus spp. within the Peptococcaceae (Clostridia). The screening of labeled DNA fractions also suggested a novel benzylsuccinate synthase alpha-subunit (bssA) sequence type previously only detected in the environment to be tentatively affiliated with these degraders. However, carbon flow from the contaminant into degrader DNA was only ∼50%, pointing toward high ratios of heterotrophic CO(2)-fixation during assimilation of acetyl-CoA originating from the contaminant by these degraders. These findings demonstrate that the importance of non-proteobacterial populations in anaerobic aromatics degradation, as well as their specific ecophysiology in the subsurface may still be largely ungrasped.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords SIP; Anaerobic toluene degradation; BTEX; Sulfate reduction; Desulfosporosinus; Benzylsuccinate synthase
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1751-7362
e-ISSN 1751-7370
Journal ISME Journal
Quellenangaben Volume: 4, Issue: 10, Pages: 1314-1325 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher Nature Publishing Group
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Groundwater Ecology (IGOE)