Dimethyl sulfoxide as an electron acceptor for anaerobic growth

Abstract

The isolation from lake mud of a bacterium which can use dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an electron acceptor for growth is described. The isolate, called strain DL-1, was a small, gram negative, non-motile spiral. The sole product of DMSO reduction was dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Other electron acceptors used by the isolate included sulfite, thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, methionine sulfoxide, tetramethylene sulfoxide, nitrate, and oxygen (microaerophilically). Sulfate was not reduced and could not even be assimilated. Lactate or succinate could serve as electron donors, with acetate as the main product. Hydrogen could be used as an electron donor if acetate was present in the medium as a carbon source. The organism has a c-type cytochrome, and most likely uses electron transport phosphorylation during DMSO reduction. Cultures of Desulfovibrio sp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris were tested for growth using DMSO as an electron acceptor, and only the Proteus strain grew. Both Proteus and strain DL-1 are versatile at coupling reductions with energy generation. There is a marked resemblance between strain DL-1 and the recently described sulfur-reducing spirillum of Wolfe and Pfennig.