Occurrence of Methanogenic Archaea in Highly Polluted Sediments of Tropical Santos–São Vicente Estuary (São Paulo, Brazil)

Little is known about the ability of methanogens to grow and produce methane in estuarine environments. In this study, traditional methods for cultivating strictly anaerobic microorganisms were combined with Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique to enrich and identify methanogenic Archaea cultures occurring in highly polluted sediments of tropical Santos–São Vicente Estuary (São Paulo, Brazil). Sediment samples were enriched at 30°C under strict anaerobic and halophilic conditions, using a basal medium containing 2% of sodium chloride and amended with glucose, methanol, and sodium salts of acetate, formate and lactate. High methanogenic activity was detected, as evidenced by the biogas containing 11.5 mmol of methane at 20 days of incubation time and methane yield of 0.138-mmol CH₄/g organic matter/g volatile suspense solids. Cells of methanogenic Archaea were selected by serial dilution in medium amended separately with sodium acetate, sodium formate, or methanol. FISH analysis revealed the presence of Methanobacteriaceae and Methanosarcina sp. cells.