4.7 Article

Depth-related coupling relation between methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOBs) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) in a marine sediment core from the Dongsha region, the South China Sea

Journal

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 98, Issue 24, Pages 10223-10230

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-014-5958-2

Keywords

Marine sediments; Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOBs); Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs); Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

Funding

  1. National Basic Research Program of China (973 program) [2012CB956004]
  2. Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey [GZH201100307-03-02-01]
  3. Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [10lgzd07]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The vertical distributions of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOBs) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) in the marine sediment core of DH-CL14 from the Dongsha region, the South China Sea, were investigated. To enumerate MOBs and SRBs, their specific genes of pmoA and apsA were quantified by a culture-independent molecular biological technique, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The result shows that the pmoA gene copies per gram of sediments reached the maximum of 1,118,679 at the depth of 140-160 cm. Overall considering the detection precision, sample amount, measurement cost, and sensitivity to the seepage of methane from the oil/gas reservoirs or gas hydrates, we suggest that the depth of 140-160 cm may be the optimal sampling position for the marine microbial exploration of oils, gases, and gas hydrates in the Dongsha region. The data of the pmoA and apsA gene copies exhibit an evident coupling relation between MOBs and SRBs as illustrated in their vertical distributions in this sediment core, which may well be interpreted by a high sulfate concentration inhibiting methane production and further leading to the reduction of MOBs. In comparison with the numbers of the pmoA and apsA copies at the same sediment depth, we find out that there were two methane-oxidizing mechanisms of aerobic and anaerobic oxidation in this sediment core, i.e., the aerobic oxidation with free oxygen dominantly occurred above the depth of 210-230 cm, while the anaerobic oxidation with the other electron acceptors such as sulfates and manganese-iron oxides happened below the depth of 210-230 cm.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available