Abstract
Thermophilic anaerobic microorganisms with the ability to reduce sulfur compounds (e.g., sulfate and/or thiosulfate) were isolated from water samples collected from about 2000 meters depth at in situ temperatures of 70°C in a geothermal well from the Paris Basin (France). Chemical and isotopic analyses show that microbial sulfate reduction occurred in the samples. Two strains were characterized by both DNA/DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, which indicated that they are most closely related to Thermotoga elfii, a thiosulfate-reducing bacterium, and Archaeoglobus fulgidus, a sulfate- and thiosulfate-reducing archaeon. Besides thiosulfate reduction using H2 as energy source, both isolates are shown to be able to retrieve energy from H2/Fe(III), a metabolic capability of importance in a deep biosphere context. It is suggested that T. elfii and A. fulgidus could be used, either as pure culture or as a consortium, in future laboratory studies aiming at better understanding microbial iron (III) and sulfate/thiosulfate reduction, hydrogen production/consumption, as well as the effect of microorganisms on the evolution of CO2 in deep aquifers. The present work examines numerous culture conditions and demonstrates that in spite of similarities in phylogenetic/genetic characteristics and in growth conditions, there are significant phenotypic differences between the isolated archaeal strain and the type strain of A. fulgidus. These differences, evidenced by a proteomic study, should be taken into account and could be useful parameters to be studied in the deep aquifers by geomicrobiological laboratories.
We would like to thank Vanessa Meiter and Elodie Francezon for technical assistance, Danielle Moinier and Régine Lebrun (IBSM, Proteomic Analysis Center of Marseille, France supported by Marseille-Nice Genopole) for performing the MALDI-TOFanalysis. The manuscript was strongly improved, thanks to the work of two anonymous reviewers.
Notes
1N°: spot number as shown in .
2The sequence coverage represents the % of the combined peptide masses covering the indicated sequence.
3ID: identification by MS in a database of coding genes for the A. fulgidus genome.
4Identification and annotated function if applicable.