Colony formation of free-living and particle-associated sulfate-reducing bacteria

Abstract Some of the components that are likely to be involved in the respiratory chains that transfer electrons from the ferrous iron substrate of various acidophilic bacteria have been revealed by spectroscopic analysis. An apparently unique, soluble and acid-stable cytochrome was found in Leptospirillum ferrooxidans which appeared to lack any of the major cytochromes or the rusticyanin of the better-studied iron-oxidizing mesophile, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans . A specific absorption peak, only found in iron-grown cells, was revealed in a whole cell spectra of thermoacidophilic archaebacteria of different genera.