Sulfur Cycling and the Intestinal Microbiome

In this review, we focus on the activities transpiring in the anaerobic segment of the sulfur cycle occurring in the gut environment where hydrogen sulfide is produced. While sulfate-reducing bacteria are considered as the principal agents for hydrogen sulfide production, the enzymatic desulfhydration of cysteine by heterotrophic bacteria also contributes to production of hydrogen sulfide. For sulfate-reducing bacteria respiration, molecular hydrogen and lactate are suitable as electron donors while sulfate functions as the terminal electron acceptor. Dietary components provide fiber and macromolecules that are degraded by bacterial enzymes to monomers, and these are fermented by intestinal bacteria with the production to molecular hydrogen which promotes the metabolic dominance by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Sulfate is also required by the sulfate-reducing bacteria, and this can be supplied by sulfate- and sulfonate-containing compounds that are hydrolyzed by intestinal bacterial with the release of sulfate. While hydrogen sulfide in the intestinal biosystem may be beneficial to bacteria by increasing resistance to antibiotics, and protecting them from reactive oxygen species, hydrogen sulfide at elevated concentrations may become toxic to the host.