Dear Maria,
Well, I'm not exactly an expert but I've got some experience
(and a good collection of bibliographic notes) on iron and
sulfur bacteria, since I started working on the presence of
Sulfur Phototrophic Bacteria in ferrous environments.
Currently I am working on a Research project on the
functioning of anaerobic environments and the effect of
bacterial activity in the cycling of some elements such as
iron and sulfur. So I thing is an excellent idea to open a
discussion on the ecology of these bacteria.
In addition to your subjects perhaps we should include a
critical (to my opinion) question.
1. Should microbiologists (aquatic microbial ecologists) trust
in the Big Chemistry Handbooks and the theoretical solubility
constants they report?
2. Do anaerobic, steady-stated systems behave chemically as
expected by analitycal chemists?
3. Can ferrous iron and sulfide coexist? What are the ideal
conditions?
4. What is the complete list of anaerobic redox reactions
bacteria can take advantage of?
5. What is the EXACT meaning of Redox potential measurements?
How far do we go with them?
I hope this will contribute to open the discussion.
Jesus
