AME 38:81-91 (2005)  -  doi:10.3354/ame038081

ABSTRACT: Members of the genus Shewanella capable of reducing metals and forming minerals under cold-temperature conditions were isolated from 3 distinct marine habitats (the coast of Washington State, the Puget Sound, and an iron-rich microbial mat off Hawaii). Cultures of microorganisms were isolated at 8°C on nutrient agar medium prepared in artificial seawater. Isolates in this study could use a wide variety of electron acceptors such as oxygen, nitrate, and metals, and reduce various metals coupled to the oxidation of several organic acids, glucose or hydrogen at temperatures down to 0°C. Akaganeite was reduced to either magnetite or siderite, depending on the test conditions. The geochemical profiles at the sample sites from which these strains were isolated spanned a temperature range of 1.8 to 11°C, and all showed active oxygen and nitrate reduction as well as metal reduction. This confirms previous reports that sediment microorganisms participating in biogeochemical cycles remain active at low temperatures.

KEY WORDS: Biogeochemistry · Geomicrobiology · Iron reduction · Cobalt reduction · Magneite