Dissimilatory sulfate reduction (DSR)—an important reaction in the biogeochemical sulfur cycle—has been dated to the Palaeoarchaean using geological evidence, but its evolutionary history is poorly understood. Several lineages of bacteria carry out DSR, but in archaea only Archaeoglobus, which acquired DSR genes from bacteria, has been proven to catalyse this reaction. We investigated substantial rates of sulfate reduction in acidic hyperthermal terrestrial springs of the Kamchatka Peninsula and attributed DSR in this environment to Crenarchaeota in the Vulcanisaeta genus. Community profiling, coupled with radioisotope and growth experiments and proteomics, confirmed DSR by ‘Candidatus Vulcanisaeta moutnovskia’, which has all of the required genes. Other cultivated Thermoproteaceae were briefly reported to use sulfate for respiration but we were unable to detect DSR in these isolates. Phylogenetic studies suggest that DSR is rare in archaea and that it originated in Vulcanisaeta, independent of Archaeoglobus, by separate acquisition of qmoABC genes phylogenetically related to bacterial hdrA genes.

异化硫酸盐还原（DSR）是生物地球化学硫循环中的重要反应，利用地质证据可追溯到古古细菌时代，但对其进化史了解甚少。细菌的几个谱系进行DSR，但在古仅Archaeoglobus，收购了DSR基因细菌，已被证明是催化这种反应。我们研究了在堪察加半岛的酸性超高温陆地弹簧硫酸盐还原的实质性率，在这种环境下泉古菌在归因DSR Vulcanisaeta属。社区纹，加上放射性同位素和生长实验和蛋白质组学，证实通过DSR'暂定Vulcanisaeta moutnovskia'，具有所有必需的基因。简短地报道了其他栽培的菊科植物用硫酸盐进行呼吸，但我们无法在这些分离物中检测到DSR。系统发育研究表明，DSR在古细菌中很少见，它起源于Vulcanisaeta，独立于古球藻，是通过单独获取与细菌hdrA基因在系统发育上相关的qmoABC基因而获得的。