Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

H2 is a Major Intermediate in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Corrosion of Iron

Trevor L. Woodard, Toshiyuki Ueki, Derek R. Lovley
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.15.516606
Trevor L. Woodard
aDepartment of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Toshiyuki Ueki
aDepartment of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Derek R. Lovley
aDepartment of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
bInstitute for Applied Life Sciences, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: dlovley@umass.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Desulfovibrio vulgaris has been the primary pure culture sulfate reducer for developing microbial corrosion concepts. Multiple mechanisms for how it accepts electrons from Fe0 have been proposed. We investigated Fe0 oxidation with a mutant of D. vulgaris in which hydrogenase genes were deleted. The hydrogenase mutant grew as well as the parental strain with lactate as the electron donor, but unlike the parental strain was not able to grow on H2. The parental strain reduced sulfate with Fe0 as the sole electron donor, but the hydrogenase mutant did not. H2 accumulated over time in Fe0 cultures of the hydrogenase mutant and sterile controls, but not in parental strain cultures. Sulfide stimulated H2 production in uninoculated controls apparently by both reacting with Fe0 to generate H2 and facilitating electron transfer from Fe0 to H+. Parental strain supernatants did not accelerate H2 production from Fe0, ruling out a role for extracellular hydrogenases. Previously proposed electron transfer between Fe0 and D. vulgaris via soluble electron shuttles was not evident. The hydrogenase mutant did not reduce sulfate in the presence of Fe0 and either riboflavin or anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate and these potential electron shuttles did not stimulate parental strain sulfate reduction with Fe0 as the electron donor. The results demonstrate that D. vulgaris primarily accepts electrons from Fe0 via H2 as an intermediary electron carrier. These findings clarify the interpretation of previous D. vulgaris corrosion studies and suggest that H2-mediated electron transfer is an important mechanism for iron corrosion under sulfate-reducing conditions.

Importance Microbial corrosion of iron in the presence of sulfate-reducing microorganisms is economically significant. There is substantial debate over how microbes accelerate iron corrosion. Tools for genetic manipulation have only been developed for a few Fe(III)-reducing and methanogenic microorganisms known to corrode iron and in each case those microbes were found to accept electrons from Fe0 via direct electron transfer. However, iron corrosion is often most intense in the presence of sulfate-reducing microbes. The finding that Desulfovibrio vulgaris relies on H2 to shuttle electrons between Fe0 and cells revives the concept, developed in some of the earliest studies on microbial corrosion, that sulfate reducers consumption of H2 is a major microbial corrosion mechanism. The results further emphasize that direct Fe0-to-microbe electron transfer has yet to be rigorously demonstrated in sulfate-reducing microbes.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted November 15, 2022.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
H2 is a Major Intermediate in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Corrosion of Iron
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
H2 is a Major Intermediate in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Corrosion of Iron
Trevor L. Woodard, Toshiyuki Ueki, Derek R. Lovley
bioRxiv 2022.11.15.516606; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.15.516606
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
H2 is a Major Intermediate in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Corrosion of Iron
Trevor L. Woodard, Toshiyuki Ueki, Derek R. Lovley
bioRxiv 2022.11.15.516606; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.15.516606

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Microbiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4682)
  • Biochemistry (10357)
  • Bioengineering (7670)
  • Bioinformatics (26330)
  • Biophysics (13523)
  • Cancer Biology (10683)
  • Cell Biology (15438)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8497)
  • Ecology (12820)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16851)
  • Genetics (11399)
  • Genomics (15478)
  • Immunology (10616)
  • Microbiology (25207)
  • Molecular Biology (10220)
  • Neuroscience (54463)
  • Paleontology (401)
  • Pathology (1668)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2897)
  • Physiology (4342)
  • Plant Biology (9243)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1586)
  • Synthetic Biology (2557)
  • Systems Biology (6780)
  • Zoology (1466)