Dataset Information

Microorganisms persist at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin.

ABSTRACT: The subsurface realm is colonized by microbial communities to depths of >1000 meters below the seafloor (m.b.sf.), but little is known about overall diversity and microbial distribution patterns at the most profound depths. Here we show that not only Bacteria and Archaea but also Eukarya occur at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin. Shifts in microbial community composition along a core of nearly 2?km reflect vertical taxa zonation influenced by sediment depth. Representatives of some microbial taxa were also cultivated using methods mimicking in situ conditions. These results suggest that diverse microorganisms persist down to 1922?m.b.sf. in the seafloor of the Canterbury Basin and extend the previously known depth limits of microbial evidence (i) from 159 to 1740 m.b.sf. for Eukarya and (ii) from 518 to 1922?m.b.sf. for Bacteria.

SUBMITTER: Ciobanu MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4069392 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Microorganisms persist at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin.

Ciobanu Maria-Cristina MC Burgaud Gaëtan G Dufresne Alexis A Breuker Anja A Rédou Vanessa V Ben Maamar Sarah S Gaboyer Frédéric F Vandenabeele-Trambouze Odile O Lipp Julius Sebastian JS Schippers Axel A Vandenkoornhuyse Philippe P Barbier Georges G Jebbar Mohamed M Godfroy Anne A Alain Karine K

The ISME journal 20140116 7

The subsurface realm is colonized by microbial communities to depths of >1000 meters below the seafloor (m.b.sf.), but little is known about overall diversity and microbial distribution patterns at the most profound depths. Here we show that not only Bacteria and Archaea but also Eukarya occur at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin. Shifts in microbial community composition along a core of nearly 2 km reflect vertical taxa zonation influenced by sediment depth. Representativ ...[more]

PMID: 24430485

Similar Datasets

Project description:The deep sedimentary biosphere, extending 100s of meters below the seafloor harbors unexpected diversity of Bacteria, Archaea, and microbial eukaryotes. Far less is known about microbial eukaryotes in subsurface habitats, albeit several studies have indicated that fungi dominate microbial eukaryotic communities and fungal molecular signatures (of both yeasts and filamentous forms) have been detected in samples as deep as 1740 mbsf. Here, we compare and contrast fungal ribosomal RNA gene signatures and whole community metatranscriptomes present in sediment core samples from 6 and 95 mbsf from Peru Margin site 1229A and from samples from 12 and 345 mbsf from Canterbury Basin site U1352. The metatranscriptome analyses reveal higher relative expression of amino acid and peptide transporters in the less nutrient rich Canterbury Basin sediments compared to the nutrient rich Peru Margin, and higher expression of motility genes in the Peru Margin samples. Higher expression of genes associated with metals transporters and antibiotic resistance and production was detected in Canterbury Basin sediments. A poly-A focused metatranscriptome produced for the Canterbury Basin sample from 345 mbsf provides further evidence for active fungal communities in the subsurface in the form of fungal-associated transcripts for metabolic and cellular processes, cell and membrane functions, and catalytic activities. Fungal communities at comparable depths at the two geographically separated locations appear dominated by distinct taxa. Differences in taxonomic composition and expression of genes associated with particular metabolic activities may be a function of sediment organic content as well as oceanic province. Microscopic analysis of Canterbury Basin sediment samples from 4 and 403 mbsf produced visualizations of septate fungal filaments, branching fungi, conidiogenesis, and spores. These images provide another important line of evidence supporting the occurrence and activity of fungi in the deep subseafloor biosphere.

Dataset Information

Microorganisms persist at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin.

Publications

Microorganisms persist at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets