Pressure Sensitivity of ANME-3 Predominant Anaerobic Methane Oxidizing Community from Coastal Marine Lake Grevelingen Sediment

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (CH₄) coupled to sulfate reduction is mediated by, anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). When a microbial community, obtained from the coastal marine Lake Grevelingen sediment and containing ANME-3 as the most abundant type of ANME, was incubated under a pressure gradient for 77 days, ANME-3 appeared to be more pressure sensitive than the SRB. Coastal marine sediment from Lake Grevelingen hosts both ANME and SRB. Among the ANME types, ANME-3 is predominant, which makes this sediment a beneficial inoculum to investigate the effect of pressure on ANME-3. The effect of the pressure on the CH₄ oxidation, SR and CH₄ production rate of the marine Lake Grevelingen sediment was assessed with 0.07 g volatile suspended solids in 200 ml pressure vessels incubated in triplicates at 0.1 MPa, 0.45 MPa, 10 MPa, 20 MPa and 40 MPa. The marine Lake Grevelingen sediment used as inoculum was incubated with artificial saline mineral medium with sulfate.