{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:35:35Z","timestamp":1785418535470,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779235200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779235200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008982","name":"National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022YFC3401301"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFC3401301"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008982","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["92351302"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["92351302"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Appl Environ Microbiol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The process of the assimilatory sulfate reduction consists of sulfate reduction to hydrogen sulfide (H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S) and then H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S assimilation for cysteine synthesis. However, recent studies indicate that both H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S and zero-valent sulfur (S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      ) are produced during dissimilatory sulfate reduction, which leads to the question of whether S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      is also involved in assimilatory sulfate reduction. In this study, phylogenetic analysis grouped assimilatory sulfite reductases into five clusters, and we re-examined four representatives from two major clusters. These enzymes produced both S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      and H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S from sulfite. However, S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      was a direct product, while H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S was a derivative of S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      via chemical reduction. Phylogenetic analysis of cysteine synthases grouped them into six clusters, and we re-examined six representatives from two major clusters. These enzymes used both glutathione persulfide (GSSH, a common intracellular compound containing a S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      atom) and H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S as substrates to synthesize cysteine, but preferred to use GSSH. These findings indicate that S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      , rather than H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S, is the key intermediate during the process of inorganic sulfur conversion to organic sulfur.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Sulfate reduction is an important link in the global sulfur cycle. Assimilatory sulfate reduction consists of sulfate reduction to hydrogen sulfide (H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S) and then H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S assimilation for cysteine synthesis. This concept was founded in the 1950s and has not been challenged until today. In this study, we re-examined four representative assimilatory sulfite reductases (aSiRs) and found that these enzymes directly reduced sulfite to zero-valent sulfur (S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      ). A small portion of produced S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      was reduced to H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S via aSiR-independent chemical reactions. Further, we re-examined six representative cysteine synthases and found that these enzymes used S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      derivative compounds (thiosulfate and glutathione persulfide) as substrates to synthesize cysteine. Thus, S\n                      <jats:sup>0<\/jats:sup>\n                      is the key intermediate of assimilatory sulfate reduction process, rather than H\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      S.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/aem.02396-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T13:00:44Z","timestamp":1776690044000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Zero-valent sulfur is the product of assimilatory sulfite reductase and a substrate of cysteine synthase"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"92","author":[{"given":"Qun","family":"Cao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0207yh398","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University","place":["Qingdao, 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