Aerobic and anaerobic iron oxidizers together drive denitrification and carbon cycling at marine iron-rich hydrothermal vents.

ABSTRACT: In principle, iron oxidation can fuel significant primary productivity and nutrient cycling in dark environments such as the deep sea. However, we have an extremely limited understanding of the ecology of iron-based ecosystems, and thus the linkages between iron oxidation, carbon cycling, and nitrate reduction. Here we investigate iron microbial mats from hydrothermal vents at Lō'ihi Seamount, Hawai'i, using genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to reconstruct potential microbial roles and interactions. Our results show that the aerobic iron-oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria are the primary producers, concentrated at the oxic mat surface. Their fixed carbon supports heterotrophs deeper in the mat, notably the second most abundant organism, Candidatus Ferristratum sp. (uncultivate

SUBMITTER: McAllister SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8114936 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature