Growth of Wolinella succinogenes with elemental sulfur in the absence of polysulfide

Wolinella succinogenes grows by anaerobic respiration with formate and polysulfide. Polysulfide forms spontaneously from sulfur and sulfide. Here we report that this eubacterium also grows with formate and elemental sulfur under conditions that do not allow polysulfide formation. With the appropriate amount of Fe²⁺ added to the medium, the concentration of polysulfide was calculated to be 0.4 nM, which is 1/400th of the concentration that of dissolved elemental sulfur. At commensurable growth rates, the growth yield with sulfur was one quarter of that with polysulfide as electron acceptor. The same low growth yield either with sulfur or with polysulfide as electron acceptor was measured for a Δpsr mutant that lacks the genes encoding polysulfide reductase (Psr). Received: 8 June 1995 / Accepted: 12 September 1995