Increased Sulfide Production Research Articles

Surfactant enhances anaerobic fermentative hydrogen sulfide production: Changes in sulfur-containing organics structure and microbial community

The presence of surfactants in waste activated sludge (WAS) system is generally regarded as beneficial to sludge treatment such as enhancing sludge dewatering and improving value-added fermentation products generation. However, in this study, it was firstly found that sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS, a typical surfactant) obviously increased toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas production from WAS anaerobic fermentation at environmentally relevant concentrations. Experimental results showed that H2S production from WAS significantly increased from 53.24 × 10−3 to 111.25 × 10−3 mg/g volatile suspended solids (VSS) when SDBS level increased from 0 to 30 mg/g total suspended solid (TSS). It was found that SDBS presence destroyed WAS structure and enhanced sulfur containing organics release. SDBS reduced the proportion of α-helix structure, damaged disulfide bridges and protein conformation, and effectively destroyed protein structure. SDBS promoted sulfur containing organics degradation and provided more readily hydrolyzed micro-molecule organics for sulfide production. Microbial analysis showed that SDBS addition enhanced the abundance of functional genes encoding protease, ATP-binding cassette transporters, and amino acids lyase, enhanced the activities and abundance of hydrolytic microbes, thus increased sulfide production from the hydrolysis of sulfur containing organics. Compared with the control, 30 mg/g TSS SDBS increased organic sulfurs hydrolysis and amino acids degradation by 47.1 % and 63.5 %, respectively. Key genes analysis further showed that SDBS addition promoted sulfate transport system and dissimilatory sulfate reduction. SDBS presence also lowered fermentation pH, promoted the chemical equilibrium transformation of sulfide, thus increased H2S gas release.

Obesogenic diet leads to luminal overproduction of the complex IV inhibitor H2 S and mitochondrial dysfunction in mouse colonocytes.

Obesity is characterized by systemic low-grade inflammation associated with disturbances of intestinal homeostasis and microbiota dysbiosis. Mitochondrial metabolism sustains epithelial homeostasis by providing energy to colonic epithelial cells (CEC) but can be altered by dietary modulations of the luminal environment. Our study aimed at evaluating whether the consumption of an obesogenic diet alters the mitochondrial function of CEC in mice. Mice were fed for 22 weeks with a 58% kcal fat diet (diet-induced obesity [DIO] group) or a 10% kcal fat diet (control diet, CTRL). Colonic crypts were isolated to assess mitochondrial function while colonic content was collected to characterize microbiota and metabolites. DIO mice developed obesity, intestinal hyperpermeability, and increased endotoxemia. Analysis of isolated colonic crypt bioenergetics revealed a mitochondrial dysfunction marked by decreased basal and maximal respirations and lower respiration linked to ATP production in DIO mice. Yet, CEC gene expression of mitochondrial respiration chain complexes and mitochondrial dynamics were not altered in DIO mice. In parallel, DIO mice displayed increased colonic bile acid concentrations, associated with higher abundance of Desulfovibrionaceae. Sulfide concentration was markedly increased in the colon content of DIO mice. Hence, chronic treatment of CTRL mouse colon organoids with sodium sulfide provoked mitochondrial dysfunction similar to that observed in vivo in DIO mice while acute exposure of isolated mitochondria from CEC of CTRL mice to sodium sulfide diminished complex IV activity. Our study provides new insights into colon mitochondrial dysfunction in obesity by revealing that increased sulfide production by DIO-induced dysbiosis impairs complex IV activity in mouse CEC.

The hepatic compensatory response to elevated systemic sulfide promotes diabetes.

SummaryImpaired hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism are hallmarks of type 2 diabetes. Increased sulfide production or sulfide donor compounds may beneficially regulate hepatic metabolism. Disposal of sulfide through the sulfide oxidation pathway (SOP) is critical for maintaining sulfide within a safe physiological range. We show that mice lacking the liver- enriched mitochondrial SOP enzyme thiosulfate sulfurtransferase (Tst−/− mice) exhibit high circulating sulfide, increased gluconeogenesis, hypertriglyceridemia, and fatty liver. Unexpectedly, hepatic sulfide levels are normal in Tst−/− mice because of exaggerated induction of sulfide disposal, with associated suppression of global protein persulfidation and nuclear respiratory factor 2 target protein levels. Hepatic proteomic and persulfidomic profiles converge on gluconeogenesis and lipid metabolism, revealing a selective deficit in medium-chain fatty acid oxidation in Tst−/− mice. We reveal a critical role of TST in hepatic metabolism that has implications for sulfide donor strategies in the context of metabolic disease.

Effects of sulfate and sulfide on the life cycle of Zizania palustris in hydroponic and mesocosm experiments.

Under oxygenated conditions, sulfate is relatively non-toxic to aquatic plants. However, in water-saturated soils, which are usually anoxic, sulfate can be reduced to toxic sulfide. Although the direct effects of sulfate and sulfide on the physiology of a few plant species have been studied in some detail, their cumulative effects on a plant's life cycle through inhibition of seed germination, seedling survival, growth, and seed production have been less well studied. We investigated the effect of sulfate and sulfide on the life cycle of wild rice (Zizania palustris L.) in hydroponic solutions and in outdoor mesocosms with sediment from a wild rice lake. In hydroponic solutions, sulfate had no effect on seed germination or juvenile seedling growth and development, but sulfide greatly reduced juvenile seedling growth and development at concentrations greater than 320μg/L. In outdoor mesocosms, sulfate additions to overlying water increased sulfide production in sediments. Wild rice seedling emergence, seedling survival, biomass growth, viable seed production, and seed mass all declined with sulfate additions and hence sulfide concentrations in sediment. These declines grew steeper during the course of the 5yr of the mesocosm experiment and wild rice populations became extinct in most tanks with concentrations of 250mg SO4 /L or greater in the overlying water. Iron sulfide precipitated on the roots of wild rice plants, especially at high sulfate application rates. These precipitates, or the encroachment of reducing conditions that they indicate, may impede nutrient uptake and be partly responsible for the reduced seed production and viability.

Impact of reduced water consumption on sulfide and methane production in rising main sewers

Reduced water consumption (RWC), for water conservation purposes, is expected to change the wastewater composition and flow conditions in sewer networks and affect the in-sewer transformation processes. In this study, the impact of reduced water consumption on sulfide and methane production in rising main sewers was investigated. Two lab-scale rising main sewer systems fed with wastewater of different strength and flow rates were operated to mimic sewers under normal and RWC conditions (water consumption reduced by 40%). Sulfide concentration under the RWC condition increased by 0.7–8.0 mg-S/L, depending on the time of a day. Batch test results showed that the RWC did not change the sulfate-reducing activity of sewer biofilms, the increased sulfide production being mainly due to longer hydraulic retention time (HRT). pH in the RWC system was about 0.2 units lower than that in the normal system, indicating that more sulfide would be in molecular form under the RWC condition, which would result in increased sulfide emission to the atmosphere as confirmed by the model simulation. Model based analysis showed that the cost for chemical dosage for sulfide mitigation would increase significantly per unit volume of sewage, although the total cost would decrease due to a lower sewage flow. The dissolved methane concentration under the RWC condition was over two times higher than that under the normal flow condition and the total methane discharge was about 1.5 times higher, which would potentially result in higher greenhouse gas emissions. Batch tests showed that the methanogenic activity of sewer biofilms increased under the RWC condition, which along with the longer HRT, led to increased methane production.

Competitive Exclusion of Sulfate Reduction by Fe(lll)‐Reducing Bacteria: A Mechanism for Producing Discrete Zones of High‐Iron Ground Water

AbstractThe Middendorf aquifer of South Carolina exhibits a 40‐kilometer‐wide zone where dissolved ferrous iron concentrations commonly exceed 1 mg/I. Downgradient of this zone, dissolved iron concentrations decrease to less than 0.05 mg/1. Geochemical and microbiologie evidence indicates that this zonation reflects the competitive exclusion of sulfate‐reducing activity by Fe(IH)‐reducing bacteria in the high‐iron zone and the emergence of sulfate reduction as the predominant process in the low‐iron zone. Viable Fe(III)‐ and sulfate‐reducing bacteria coexist throughout the aquifer. However, the observed linear relationship between dissolved iron and dissolved inorganic carbon as well as the lack of sulfate consumption indicates that sulfate‐reducing bacteria are much less active than Fe(III)‐reducing bacteria in the high‐iron zone. Fe(III)‐reducing bacteria appear to exclude sulfate‐reducing activity by maintaining dissolved hydrogen (˜1.0 nM), formate (˜2.0 μM), and acetate (˜1.0 μM) concentrations at levels lower than thresholds required by sulfate‐reducing bacteria. Downgradient of the high‐iron zone, Fe(III)‐reducing activity becomes limited by a lack of Fe(III) oxyhydroxides as Middendorf sediments become progressively more marine in origin. Hydrogen, formate, and acetate concentrations then increase to levels (˜3.0 nM, ˜10.9, and 2.5 μM, respectively) that allow sulfate‐reducing bacteria to become active. Increased sulfide production strips ferrous iron from solution by precipitating ferrous sulfides, and dissolved iron concentrations decrease. The observed high‐iron zonation is thus one manifestation of microbial competition for scarce substrates. The wide occurrence of similar water‐chemistry patterns implies that microbial competition mechanisms are important to the ground‐water geochemistry of many hydrologie systems.

Investigation of cadmium resistance in an Alcaligenes sp.

The mechanisms of metal resistance of a cadmium-resistant Alcaligenes sp. were studied. Growth in a defined medium was unaffected by cadmium at concentrations up to 0.1 mM, while at concentrations up to 2.5 mM, growth occurred after an extended lag phase. The increase in length of the lag phase was abolished by repeated subculturing at these higher concentrations. However, subculture in the absence of cadmium reversed the adaptation process. Plasmid DNA was not detected in adapted cells, suggesting that adaptation is not plasmid mediated. Increased sulfide production in response to cadmium was observed, although the levels were too low to account fully for cadmium resistance. Adaptation of cells to cadmium resulted in the appearance of a major new membrane protein (molecular weight, 34,500) whose presence was not dependent upon the method of membrane preparation. This protein was induced at cadmium concentrations of 0.1 mM and above, but below this level the protein was absent. The onset of growth at concentrations above 0.1 mM was coincident with the appearance of this protein, which was also induced by zinc (0.4 mM) but not by manganese or nickel. The protein was only solubilized by a sodium dodecyl sulfate-2-mercaptoethanol mixture. Similar solubility properties were shown by a second major membrane protein (molecular weight, 33,000). These two proteins proved to be similar by peptide-mapping experiments and amino acid analysis. The appearance of the 34,500-molecular-weight protein and its possible role in cadmium resistance are discussed.

Stable isotope fractionation by Clostridium pasteurianum. 2. Regulation of sulfite reductases by sulfur amino acids and their influence on sulfur isotope fractionation during SO32- and SO42- reduction.

In addition to an assimilatory sulfite reductase, studies of cultures of Clostridium pasteurianum supplemented with methionine, cysteine, and 35SO42- provides evidence for another reductase which is induced by SO32-. This inducible reductase appears to be dissimaltory because of the copious sulfide production arising when the cells are grown on SO32-. Cysteine can repress the assimilatory sulfite reductase but does not affect the inducible reductase. During late logarithmic growth on 1 mM SO42- + 10mM cysteine, depression of the inducible reductase occurred along with increased sulfide production. The presence of 1 mM cysteine and (or) 1 mM cysteine and (or) 1 mM methionine does not affect the inverse sulfur isotope effect for evolved H2S. However, 5 and 10 mM cysteine reduce the maximum delta34S value for released H2S from +40 to 10%. A small conversion of cysteine to H2S by C. pasteurianum occurs, but only in the stationary phase.