Bacteria active during sulfate-reducing incubations with Potter Cove sediment. Bacterial 16S rRNA community in sulfate-reducing stable isotope probing slurry incubation experiment testing different electron donors with sediment of Potter Cove

An RNA-stable isotope probing incubation experiment was performed, investigating the actively acetate assimilating or carbon fixating bacterial community under sulfate-reducing conditions with hydrogen or acetate as electron donors in Antarctic, glacial influenced sediments. Slurry was prepared in a 1:6 ratio of sediment and artificial sea water, amended with 28 mM sulfate and 0.5 mM dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). The used sediment originated from pooled cores STA14.03 and STA14.04, 0-10 cm, at station 14 in Potter Cove, King George Island/Isla 25 de Mayo, West Antarctic Peninsula, retrieved in Austral summer 2019. The incubation experiment was performed anoxically for six treatments with 13C-labeled acetate or DIC and unlabeled controls in biological triplicates: (I) acetate + hydrogen, (II) acetate, (III) hydrogen, (IV) hydrogen + molybdate, (V) acetate + molybdate, (VI) nothing added. Incubation at 2 degrees C in the dark for 19 days. RNA was extracted from pooled biological triplicates (except treatment III which was kept separate) and density separated by ultra-centrifugation. In selected retrieved fractions, the bacterial community was identified by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on RNA (cDNA) level. The study was funded by DFG Schwerpunktprogram SPP 1158. Please contact the authors before using this data.