Bacterial Sulfate Reduction: Current Status and Possible Origin

Recent studies on the dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria should help in evaluating their role(s) in ancient geochemical events. As a group, the bacteria are versatile, varied and genetically diverse, and can thrive under a wide range of physico-chemical and nutritional conditions. Discoveries of hydrocarbonutilizing sulfate reducers, and of organisms that grow above 80 °C, rebut claims that sulfide formation in, for example, oil fields and Mississippi Valley type environments, must of necessity be abiological. In modern anoxic environments, sulfate-reducing bacteria are responsible for a significant, and in some cases the major part of organic remineralization of organic matter.