Heribert Cypionka

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

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Bert Engelen

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Henrik Sass

Cardiff University

Jörg Overmann

Technische Universität Braunschweig

Jürgen Rullkötter

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Jutta Graue

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Jürgen Köster

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Martin Könneke

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Tim Engelhardt

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Mélanie Beck

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Hans‐Jürgen Brumsack

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Cooperative Institutions

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology

Max Planck Society

University of Rhode Island

Roger Williams University

University of Bremen

Technische Universität Braunschweig

Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research

Joint Genome Institute

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Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor Sediments

Science (2004)

Steven D’Hondt Bo Barker Jørgensen D.J. Miller Anja Batzke Ruth E. Blake

Diverse microbial communities and numerous energy-yielding activities occur in deeply buried sediments of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Distributions of metabolic activities often deviate from the standard model. Rates of activities, cell concentrations, and populations of cultured bacteria vary consistently from one subseafloor environment to another. Net rates of major activities principally rely on electron acceptors and electron donors from the photosynthetic surface world. At open-ocean sites, nitrate and oxygen are supplied to the deepest sedimentary communities through the underlying basaltic aquifer. In turn, these sedimentary communities may supply dissolved electron donors and nutrients to the underlying crustal biosphere.

Electron acceptor

10.1126/science.1101155

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Citations (748)

Widespread distribution and high abundance of Rhizobium radiobacter within Mediterranean subsurface sediments

Environmental Microbiology (2006)

Jacqueline Süß Karin Schubert Henrik Sass Heribert Cypionka Jörg Overmann

Summary Eastern Mediterranean sediments are characterized by the occurrence of distinct, organic‐rich layers, called sapropels. These harbour elevated microbial numbers in comparison with adjacent carbon‐lean intermediate layers. A recently obtained culture collection from these sediments was composed of 20% of strains closely related to Rhizobium radiobacter , formerly classified as Agrobacterium tumefaciens . To prove and quantify the in situ abundance of R. radiobacter , a highly specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol was developed. To convert quantification results into cell numbers, the copy number of rrn operons per genome was determined. Southern hybridization showed that our isolates contained four operons. Finally, quantitative PCR was applied to 45 sediment samples obtained across the eastern Mediterranean. Rhizobium radiobacter was present in 38 of 45 samples indicating an almost ubiquitous distribution. In total, 25–40 000 cells per gram of sediment were detected, corresponding to 0.001–5.1% of the bacterial cells. In general, the relative and absolute abundance of R. radiobacter increased with depth and was higher in sapropels than in intermediate layers. This indicates that R. radiobacter forms an active population in up to 200 000 years old sapropels. The present study shows for the first time that a cultivated subsurface bacterium is highly abundant in this environment.

10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01058.x

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Citations (45)

Vertical distribution of sulfate-reducing bacteria at the oxic-anoxic interface in sediments of the oligotrophic Lake Stechlin

FEMS Microbiology Ecology (2006)

Henrik Sass Heribert Cypionka Hans‐Dietrich Babenzien

Vertical distribution of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfate reduction rates were investigated in littoral and profundal sediments of the oligotrophic Lake Stechlin. SRB counted by the most probable number (MPN) technique showed two peaks, one at the oxic-anoxic interface, and the second deeper in the reduced sediment layer. Sulfate reduction rates determined as potential rates in anoxic sediment slurries showed a similar vertical distribution with the highest values in the anoxic zones. The highest cell numbers observed were 1.3×105 cells cm−3 with lactate as substrate. SRB were also found in oxic sediment layers in numbers similar to those detected in anoxic zones. From the highest positive MPN tubes 34 pure cultures were isolated. Physiological characterization including nutritional behaviour, tests for desulfoviridin and spore formation turned out that nearly all isolates belonged to the genera Desulfovibrio, Desulfomicrobium, and Desulfotomaculum. SRB from the oxic sediment layers revealed a higher oxygen tolerance and capacity of oxygen respiration than isolates from the anoxic sediment layers. However, no sulfate reduction was observed in the presence of oxygen, since oxygen was preferentially reduced.

Profundal zone

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

Desulfovibrio

Most probable number

10.1111/j.1574-6941.1997.tb00377.x

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Citations (149)

Sulfate transport in Desulfobulbus propionicus and Desulfococcus multivorans

Archives of Microbiology (1990)

R. Warthmann Heribert Cypionka

Selenate

Vanadate

10.1007/bf00423324

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Citations (36)

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

Encyclopedia of earth sciences series/Encyclopedia of earth sciences (2011)

Heribert Cypionka

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_197

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Citations (21)

Role ofBacteria,ArchaeaandFungiinvolved in Methane Release in Abandoned Coal Mines

Geomicrobiology Journal (2011)

Sabrina Beckmann Martin Krüger Bert Engelen Anna A. Gorbushina Heribert Cypionka

Worldwide, abandoned coal mines release substantial amounts of methane, which is largely of biogenic origin. The aim of this study was to understand the microbial processes involved in mine-gas formation. Therefore, coal and timber samples and anaerobic enrichments from two abandoned coal mines in Germany were subjected to DGGE analyses and quantitative PCR. The primers used were specific for Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, and the key functional genes for sulfate reduction (dsrA) and methanogenesis (mcrA). A broad spectrum of facultative anaerobic bacteria and acetogens belonging to all five groups (α-ϵ) of the Proteobacteria, as well as the Bacteroidetes, Tenericutes, Actinobacteria, Chlorobi and Chloroflexi were detected. Archaea were represented by acetoclastic Methanosarcinales and Crenarchaeota with an unknown metabolism. Fungi formed thick biofilms particularly on timber, and were identified as typical wood degraders belonging to the Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. The community analysis as well as the environmental conditions and the metabolites detected in a previous study are consistent with the following scenario of methane release: Weathering of coal and timber is initiated by wood-degrading Fungi and Bacteria under a suboxic atmosphere. In the lower, oxygen-depleted layers Fungi and Bacteria perform incomplete oxidation and release reduced substrates which can be channeled into methanogenesis. Acetate appeared to be the main precursor of the biogenic methane in the investigated coal mines.

Chloroflexi (class)

Crenarchaeota

Euryarchaeota

Acetogenesis

Facultative

10.1080/01490451.2010.503258

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Citations (59)

Growth and chemosensory behavior of sulfate-reducing bacteria in oxygenâsulfide gradients

FEMS Microbiology Ecology (2002)

Andrea Saß Andrea Eschemann Michael KÃ ⁄ hl Roland Thar Henrik Sass

Growth and chemotactic behavior in oxic-anoxic gradients were studied with two freshwater and four marine strains of sulfate-reducing bacteria related to the genera Desulfovibrio, Desulfomicrobium or Desulfobulbus. Cells were grown in oxygen-sulfide counter-gradients within tubes filled with agar-solidified medium. The immobilized cells grew mainly in the anoxic zone, revealing a peak below the oxic-anoxic interface. All tested strains survived exposure to air for 8 h and all were capable of oxygen reduction with lactate. Most strains also oxidized sulfide with oxygen. Desulfovibrio desulfuricans responded chemotactically to lactate, nitrate, sulfate and thiosulfate, and even sulfide functioned as an attractant. In oxic-anoxic gradients the bacteria moved away from high oxygen concentrations and formed bands at the outer edge of the oxic zone at low oxygen concentration (<5% O2 saturation). They were able to actively change the extension and slope of the gradients by oxygen reduction with lactate or even sulfide as electron donor. Generally, the chemotactic behavior was in agreement with a defense strategy that re-establishes anoxic conditions, thus promoting anaerobic growth and, in a natural community, fermentative production of the preferred electron donors of the sulfate-reducing bacteria.

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

Desulfovibrio

Chemocline

Limiting oxygen concentration

10.1111/j.1574-6941.2002.tb00935.x

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Citations (52)

Community-like genome in single cells of the sulfur bacterium Achromatium oxaliferum

Nature Communications (2017)

Danny Ionescu Mina Bižić Nicola De Maio Heribert Cypionka Hans‐Peter Grossart

Abstract Polyploid bacteria are common, but the genetic and functional diversity resulting from polyploidy is unknown. Here we use single-cell genomics, metagenomics, single-cell amplicon sequencing, and fluorescence in situ hybridization, to show that individual cells of Achromatium oxaliferum , the world’s biggest known freshwater bacterium, harbor genetic diversity typical of whole bacterial communities. The cells contain tens of transposable elements, which likely cause the unprecedented diversity that we observe in the sequence and synteny of genes. Given the high within-cell diversity of the usually conserved 16S ribosomal RNA gene, we suggest that gene conversion occurs in multiple, separated genomic hotspots. The ribosomal RNA distribution inside the cells hints to spatially differential gene expression. We also suggest that intracellular gene transfer may lead to extensive gene reshuffling and increased diversity.

Synteny

Bacterial artificial chromosome

Horizontal Gene Transfer

10.1038/s41467-017-00342-9

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Citations (35)

The preferred electron acceptor of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans CSN

FEMS Microbiology Ecology (1995)

Daniel Krekeler Heribert Cypionka

The sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans strain CSN (DSM 104) oxidized H2 with thiosulfate, sulfate, sulfite, nitrite, nitrate and oxygen with rates increasing (in the order listed) from 20 to 525 nmol H2 min−1 mg−1 protein. Nitrate reduction was induced by nitrate or limiting concentrations of sulfate during growth, while all other activities were constitutive. Oxygen prevented reduction of all other electron acceptors, while nitrate and nitrite blocked the reduction of the sulfur compounds. In the presence of H2 and reduced sulfur compounds, H2 was the preferred electron donor. The cells oxidized thiosulfate or sulfite coupled to the reduction of nitrate to ammonia. This represents a novel type of metabolism connecting the sulfur and nitrogen cycles. It is concluded that oxygen is the preferred electron acceptor of D. desulfuricans. Sulfate reduction in oxic environments must be due to different organisms or mechanisms.

Electron acceptor

Desulfovibrio

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

Electron donor

Sulfur Metabolism

10.1111/j.1574-6941.1995.tb00151.x

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Citations (69)

Deep pore water profiles reflect enhanced microbial activity towards tidal flat margins

Ocean Dynamics (2009)

Mélanie Beck Jürgen Köster Bert Engelen Jan Holstein Antje Gittel

Biogeochemical Cycle