title: Aerobic sulfate reduction in microbial mats.
abstract: Measurements of bacterial sulfate reduction and dissolved oxygen (O2) in hypersaline bacterial mats from Baja California, Mexico, revealed that sulfate reduction occurred consistently within the well-oxygenated photosynthetic zone of the mats.  This evidence that dissimilatory sulfate reduction can occur in the presence of O2 challenges the conventional view that sulfate reduction is a strictly anaerobic process.  At constant temperature, the rates of sulfate reduction in oxygenated mats during daytime were similar to rates in anoxic mats at night:  thus, during a 24-hour cycle, variations in light and O2 have little effect on rates of sulfate reduction in these mats.
authors.affiliation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Canfield
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Des Marais
mesh_terms: D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008027:Light; D008386:Marine Biology; D008800:Mexico; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010788:Photosynthesis; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D013431:Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism*; D016999:Sulfur-Reducing Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D013431:Sulfates; D010100:Oxygen