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Sulfur globule

A sulfur globule is an intracellular, and sometimes extracellular, aggregate used by various sulfur oxidizing bacteria as storage for elemental sulfur. Sulfur globules were first explained in 1887 by Sergei Winogradsky,[1] and their complete structure and chemical composition has been a debate since then.[1] More recently, tools of fluorescence microscopy and genomics have begun to shed light on the structure, formation, and function of sulfur globules.

Further, sulfur globules have been primarily described in chemoautotrophs and phototrophs belonging to the phylum proteobacteria. Sulfur globules can be formed and deposited intracellularly or extracellularly. The formation of extracellular sulfur globules is generally characteristic of green sulfur bacteria and sulfur oxidizers from the family Ectothiorhodospiraceae, whereas intracellular sulfur globules are more typical of magnetotactic sulfur oxidizers, purple sulfur bacteria from the Chromatiaceae family, as well as sulfur-oxidizing bacterial endosymbionts.[2]

Currently, the model organism for studying the structure and function of these sulfur globules is Allochromatium vinosum.[3]

  1. ^ a b Dahl, Christiane; Prange, Alexander (2006), Shively, Jessup M. (ed.), "Bacterial Sulfur Globules: Occurrence, Structure and Metabolism", Inclusions in Prokaryotes, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 21–51, doi:10.1007/3-540-33774-1_2, ISBN 978-3-540-33774-4, retrieved 2025-02-13
  2. ^ Kümpel, Carolin; Grein, Fabian; Dahl, Christiane (2023-07-12). "Fluorescence Microscopy Study of the Intracellular Sulfur Globule Protein SgpD in the Purple Sulfur Bacterium Allochromatium vinosum". Microorganisms. 11 (7): 1792. doi:10.3390/microorganisms11071792. ISSN 2076-2607. PMC 10386293. PMID 37512964.
  3. ^ Maki, James S. (2013). "Bacterial Intracellular Sulfur Globules: Structure and Function". Microbial Physiology. 23 (4–5): 270–280. doi:10.1159/000351335. ISSN 2673-1665.
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