Insights Into the Mineralogy and Surface Chemistry of Extracellular Biogenic S(0) Globules Produced by Chlorobaculum tepidum

Elemental sulfur (S(0)) is produced and degraded by phylogenetically diverse groups of microorganisms. For Chlorobaculum tepidum, an anoxygenic phototroph, sulfide is oxidized to produce extracellular S(0) globules, which can be further oxidized to sulfate. While some sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (e.g., Allochromatium vinosum) are also capable of growth on commercial S(0) as an electron donor, C. tepidum is not. Even colloidal sulfur sols, which appear indistinguishable from biogenic globules, do not support the growth of C. tepidum. Here, we investigate the properties that make biogenic S(0) globules distinct from abiotic forms of S(0). We found that S(0) globules produced by C. tepidum and abiotic S(0) sols are quite similar in terms of mineralogy and material properties, but the two are distinguished primarily by the properties of their surfaces. C. tepidum’s globules are enveloped by a layer of organics (protein and polysaccharides), which results in a surface that is fundamentally different from that of abiotic S(0) sols. The organic coating on the globules appears to slow the aging and crystallization of amorphous sulfur, perhaps providing an extended window of time for microbes in the environment to access the more labile forms of sulfur as needed. Overall, our results suggest that the surface of biogenic S(0) globules may be key to cell–sulfur interactions and the reactivity of biogenic S(0) in the environment.