TraitMech

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sulfur oxidation

traitmech:000106 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A metabolism in which an organism oxidizes reduced inorganic sulfur compounds (sulfide, elemental sulfur, thiosulfate) to sulfate, conserving energy and often supporting chemolithotrophic growth.

Lithotrophic sulfur oxidation to sulfate

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking sulfur-oxidizing enzyme systems to oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds to sulfate.

Lithotrophic sulfur oxidation to sulfate Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for sulfur oxidation.

Edge evidence

  • Sox enzyme system enables sulfur oxidation RO:0002327

    The Sox system enables lithotrophic sulfur oxidation.

    • DOI:10.1128/AEM.67.7.2873-2882.2001 Friedrich et al. describe the Sox system as a common sulfur-oxidation mechanism.
  • sulfur oxidation oxidizes hydrogen sulfide METPO:2000016

    Sulfur oxidizers oxidize reduced sulfur compounds such as sulfide.

    • DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00187.x Ghosh & Dam review lithotrophic oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur.
  • sulfur oxidation produces sulfate METPO:2000202

    Complete sulfur oxidation produces sulfate.

    • DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00187.x Supports sulfate as the oxidized end product.
  • sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) oxidizes hydrogen sulfide METPO:2000016

    SQR oxidizes sulfide to sulfane sulfur (S0/polysulfide).

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 SQR oxidizing sulfide to sulfane sulfur (S0/polysulfide).
  • sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) produces sulfane sulfur METPO:2000202

    SQR produces sulfane sulfur/polysulfide from sulfide.

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 SQR oxidizing sulfide to sulfane sulfur (S0/polysulfide).
  • persulfide dioxygenase (PDO) oxidizes glutathione persulfide (GSSH) METPO:2000016

    PDO oxidizes glutathione persulfide (GSSH).

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 PDO oxidizes glutathione persulfide (GSSH); O2-dependent.
  • persulfide dioxygenase (PDO) produces sulfite METPO:2000202

    Persulfide dioxygenase produces sulfite (GSSH + O2 + H2O -> GSH + SO3(2-)).

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 GSSH + O2 + H2O -> GSH + SO3(2-) + 2H+; oxygen-dependent.
  • sulfite reacts to form thiosulfate

    Sulfite reacts with sulfane sulfur to form thiosulfate (non-enzymatic).

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 The generated sulfite can react with sulfane sulfur to form thiosulfate.
  • Sox enzyme system oxidizes thiosulfate METPO:2000016

    Thiosulfate is oxidized to sulfate via the Sox system.

    • DOI:10.3390/ijms252010962 Thiosulfate is then oxidized to sulfate via the Sox-system.
  • thiosulfate dehydrogenase (TsdA) oxidizes thiosulfate METPO:2000016

    TsdA oxidizes thiosulfate to tetrathionate (S2O32- to S4O62-).

    • DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1426584 tsdA (S2O32- to S4O62-).
  • thiosulfate dehydrogenase (TsdA) produces tetrathionate METPO:2000202

    TsdA produces tetrathionate from thiosulfate.

    • DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1426584 tsdA (S2O32- to S4O62-).
  • tetrathionate hydrolase (TetH) oxidizes tetrathionate METPO:2000016

    TetH disproportionates/hydrolyzes tetrathionate to S0, thiosulfate and sulfate.

    • DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1426584 Tetrathionate generated by tsdA can be disproportionated by tetH to yield S0, thiosulfate and sulfate.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00187.x

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • sulfide oxidation NARROW_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00187.x

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000060 [-1.052, -1.766, -1.194, +0.291, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate METABOLISM trait (sulfur oxidation); round 2, sulfur-cycle gap.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (Sox-mediated sulfur oxidation to sulfate) with CHEBI node groundings and RO/METPO predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 9 evidence-backed generic edges (9 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  4. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 8 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000016×5, METPO:2000202×3).