Evidence of the activity of dissimilatory sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in nonsulfidogenic tropical mobile muds.

In spite of the nonsulfidic conditions and abundant reactive iron(III) commonly found in mobile tropical deltaic muds, genes encoding dissimilatory sulfite reductase (dsr) were successfully amplified from the upper approximately 1 m of coastal deposits sampled along French Guiana and in the Gulf of Papua. The dsr sequences retrieved were highly diverse, were generally represented in both study regions and fell into six large phylogenetic groupings: Deltaproteobacteria, Thermodesulfovibrio groups, Firmicutes and three groups without known cultured representatives. The spatial and temporal distribution of dsr sequences strongly supports the contention that the sulfate-reducing prokaryote communities in mobile mud environments are cosmopolitan and stable over a period of years.