Extended Data Fig. 4: Sulfide production in n-hexane (C6)- and n-tetradecane (C14)-degrading cultures under different conditions.
a, b, Treatment with 2-bromoethanosulfonate (BES). BES (5 mM final concentration) was added to duplicates of C6 (a) and C14 (b) degrading cultures ( + BES). A control culture (-BES) did not receive BES. The inhibition of alkane oxidation by BES corroborates an Acr-based substrate activation. c,d, Addition of hydrogen or formate to C6 (c) and C14 (d)-degrading cultures. All cultures were supplied with the original substrate. The addition of 10% H2 into the headspace or 10 mM sodium formate into the medium did not accelerate sulfide production compared to positive controls. e, f, Incubation at temperatures between 60 °C and 90 °C. The C6-degrading culture (e) grows optimally at 70 °C and 75 °C, while it still shows some activity at slightly lower (65 °C) and slightly higher (80 °C) temperatures. The activity of the C14-degrading culture (f) seems to be limited to 70 °C.
