Amino acids as main substrates for sulfate-reducing bacteria in surface sediment of a eutrophic bay.

The inner part of Tokyo Bay, Japan, is highly eutrophicated as shown by the frequent occurrence of red tide. The bottom water is anoxic during warm seasons especially at artificially dredged sites. In the sediment slurries prepared from surface sediment samples collected from the dredged sites, substrate addition stimulated the consumption of sulfate during anaerobic incubation. Of the substrates added, the seston composed mainly of diatom stimulated consumption more than lactate and acetate. Its effect was nearly equal to that of casamino acids. Casamino acids and some amino acids also accelerated the rate of sulfate reduction measured by the tracer method in sediment samples more than lactate or acetate. Anaerobic incubation of the sediment slurry amended with casamino acids showed that the consumption of amino acids was retarded by the addition of molybdate (final concentration; 20 mM). In the slurry amended with only molybdate, glutamate was accumulated distinctively and linearly with time. Its accumulation rate in molar base was comparable to the rate of sulfate reduction. These results suggested that amino acids were the main substrates for sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in the sediment. The MPN values of SRB in these sediment samples were often higher with the enumeration medium containing casamino acids instead of lactate. Furthermore, during a week incubation of sediment slurries amended with substrates, casamino acids and seston more greatly stimulated the growth of SRB enumerated by both media than lactate.