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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Angela SherryORCiD, Dr Ana Suarez Suarez, Professor Ian Head, Professor Casey Hubert
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2020.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Thermophilic endospores are widespread in cold marine sediments where the temperature is too low to support growth and activity of thermophiles in situ. These endospores are likely expelled from warm subsurface environments and subsequently dispersed by ocean currents. The endospore upper temperature limit for survival is 140°C, which can be tolerated in repeated short exposures, potentially enabling transit through hot crustal fluids. Longer‐term thermal tolerance of endospores, and how long they could persist in an environment hotter than their maximum growth temperature, is less understood. To test whether thermophilic endospores can survive prolonged exposure to high temperatures, sediments were incubated at 80–90°C for 6, 12 or 463 days. Sediments were then cooled by 10–40°C, mimicking the cooling in subsurface oil reservoirs subjected to seawater injection. Cooling the sediments induced sulfate reduction, coinciding with an enrichment of endospore‐forming Clostridia. Different Desulfofundulus, Desulfohalotomaculum, Desulfallas, Desulfotomaculum and Desulfofarcimen demonstrated different thermal tolerances, with some Desulfofundulusstrains surviving for >1 year at 80°C. In an oil reservoir context, heat‐resistant endospore‐forming sulfate‐reducing bacteria have a survival advantage if they are introduced to, or are resident in, an oil reservoir normally too hot for germination and growth, explaining observations of reservoir souring following cold seawater injection.
Author(s): Bell E, Sherry A, Pilloni G, Suárez‐Suárez A, Cramm MA, Cueto G, Head IM, Hubert CRJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Environmental Microbiology
Year: 2020
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Pages: 456-465
Print publication date: 01/01/2020
Online publication date: 19/11/2019
Acceptance date: 15/11/2019
Date deposited: 21/01/2020
ISSN (print): 1462-2912
ISSN (electronic): 1462-2920
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14866
DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14866
Notes: This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Bell, E., Sherry, A., Pilloni, G., Suárez‐Suárez, A., Cramm, M.A., Cueto, G., Head, I.M. and Hubert, C.R.J. (2020), Sediment cooling triggers germination and sulfate reduction by heat‐resistant thermophilic spore‐forming bacteria. Environ Microbiol, 22: 456-465. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14866, which has been published in final form at doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14866. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
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