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Diversity and ecology of microbial sulfur metabolism

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 23, pages 122–140 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sulfur plays a pivotal role in interactions within the atmosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and the functioning of living organisms. In the Earth’s crust, mantle, and atmosphere, sulfur undergoes geochemical transformations due to natural and anthropogenic factors. In the biosphere, sulfur participates in the formation of amino acids, proteins, coenzymes and vitamins. Microorganisms in the biosphere are crucial for cycling sulfur compounds through oxidation, reduction and disproportionation reactions, facilitating their bioassimilation and energy generation. Microbial sulfur metabolism is abundant in both aerobic and anaerobic environments and is interconnected with biogeochemical cycles of important elements such as carbon, nitrogen and iron. Through metabolism, competition or cooperation, microorganisms metabolizing sulfur can drive the consumption of organic carbon, loss of fixed nitrogen and production of climate-active gases. Given the increasing significance of sulfur metabolism in environmental alteration and the intricate involvement of microorganisms in sulfur dynamics, a timely re-evaluation of the sulfur cycle is imperative. This Review explores our understanding of microbial sulfur metabolism, primarily focusing on the transformations of inorganic sulfur. We comprehensively overview the sulfur cycle in the face of rapidly changing ecosystems on Earth, highlighting the importance of microbially-mediated sulfur transformation reactions across different environments, ecosystems and microbiomes.

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Fig. 1: The global sulfur cycle.
Fig. 2: Transformations of sulfur compounds.
Fig. 3: Sulfur metabolism across the tree of life.
Fig. 4: Microbial interactions related to the sulfur cycle in different ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

Z.Z. acknowledges support from the start-up fund from Institute for Advanced Study and the research fund from Synthetic Biology Research Center of Shenzhen University. P.Q.T. was supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship and a Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Award Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. E.S.C. is an MSTP student and was supported in part by Medical Scientist Training Program grant T32GM008692 and by an NLM training grant to the Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine Training Program (NLM 5T15LM007359) at UW-Madison. K.A. acknowledges support from the US National Science Foundation under grant number OCE 2049478.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhichao Zhou, Patricia Q. Tran.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Zhichao Zhou

  2. Synthetic Biology Research Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Zhichao Zhou

  3. Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Zhichao Zhou, Patricia Q. Tran, Elise S. Cowley & Karthik Anantharaman

  4. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Patricia Q. Tran & Karthik Anantharaman

  5. Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Elise S. Cowley

  6. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert

  7. Department of Data Science and AI, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Karthik Anantharaman

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Contributions

Z.Z., P.Q.T. and K.A. conceptualized the article. E.S.C. and E.T.-R. contributed to discussion of the content. Z.Z., P.Q.T. and K.A. wrote the article, with feedback and edits from E.S.C. and E.T.-R.

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Correspondence to Karthik Anantharaman.

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Glossary

Assimilatory sulfate reduction

A process where sulfate is reduced to hydrogen sulfide for biosynthesis of cysteine and other compounds in living organisms.

Atmospheric deposition

A transport process for gases and particles from the atmosphere to the surface of terrestrial and aquatic systems, involving wet (rain, sleet, snow, fog) and dry (without precipitation) depositions.

Auxiliary metabolic genes

(AMGs). Host-derived metabolic genes encoded by viruses to influence and manipulate their hosts by augmenting, redirecting or short-circuiting host metabolic reactions through the production of corresponding enzymes.

Cryptic sulfur cycling

A cycling process where a tight link between sulfate reduction and sulfide oxidation enables a rapid sulfide turnover, ensuring the sulfide concentration remains below detectable levels.

Disproportionation

A redox reaction where the substrate is in the intermediate oxidation state, producing two compounds, one with a higher oxidation state and the other with a lower oxidation state.

Dissimilatory sulfate or sulfite reduction

A form of anaerobic respiration where sulfate or sulfite is used as the electron acceptor by microorganisms to produce hydrogen sulfide.

Holomictic lake

A lake that typically experiences an annual event where the temperature and density of the surface and bottom layers are the same, facilitating the mixing of water from distinct layers.

Immobilization

The process opposite to mineralization, where microorganisms convert inorganic compounds into organic compounds, making them inaccessible to plants.

Meromictic lake

The opposite of a holomictic lake in that its layers do not intermix.

Mineralization

The conversion of chemical compounds present in organic matter to inorganic forms, making the soluble chemicals available to plants and microorganisms.

Sulfide minerals

A class of minerals containing sulfide or disulfide as the primary anion, typically with ferrous, cupric, lead, zinc, silver and mercury cations.

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Zhou, Z., Tran, P.Q., Cowley, E.S. et al. Diversity and ecology of microbial sulfur metabolism. Nat Rev Microbiol 23, 122–140 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01104-3

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