Vertical distribution and diversity of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in the Pearl River estuarine sediments, Southern China

The vertical distribution and diversity of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes (SRPs) in a sediment core from the Pearl River Estuary was reported for the first time. The profiles of methane and sulfate concentrations along the sediment core indicated processes of methane production/oxidation and sulfate reduction. Phospholipid fatty acids analysis suggested that sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) might be abundant in the upper layers, while SRPs might be distributed throughout the sediment core. Quantitative competitive-PCR analysis indicated that the ratios of SRPs to total bacteria in the sediment core varied from around 2–20%. Four dissimilatory sulfite reductase ( dsrAB) gene libraries were constructed and analyzed for the top layer (0–6 cm), middle layer (18–24 cm), bottom layer (44–50 cm) and the sulfate-methane transition zone (32–42 cm) sediments. Most of the retrieved dsrAB sequences (80.9%) had low sequence similarity with known SRP sequences and formed deeply branching dsrAB lineages. Meanwhile, bacterial 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that members of the Proteobacteria were predominant in these sediments. Putative SRPs within Desulfobacteriaceae, Syntrophaceae and Desulfobulbaceae of Deltaproteobacteria , and putative SOB within Epsilonproteobacteria were detected by the 16S rRNA gene analysis. Results of this study suggested a variety of novel SRPs in the Pearl River Estuary sediments.