Biogeographical distribution and diversity of microbes in methane hydrate-bearing deep marine sediments on the Pacific Ocean Margin.

By F. Inagaki, T. Nunoura, S. Nakagawa, A. Teske, M. Lever, A. Lauer, Masae Suzuki, K. Takai, M. Delwiche, F. Colwell and 4 more. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006

706 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The deep subseafloor biosphere is among the least-understood habitats on Earth, even though the huge microbial biomass therein plays an important role for potential long-term controls on global biogeochemical cycles. We report here the vertical and geographical distribution of microbes and their phylogenetic diversities in deeply buried marine sediments of the Pacific Ocean Margins. During the Ocean Drilling Program Legs 201 and 204, we obtained sediment cores from the Peru and Cascadia Margins that varied with respect to the presence of dissolved methane and methane hydrate. To examine differences in prokaryotic distribution patterns in sediments with or without methane hydrates, we studied >2,800 clones possessing partial sequences (400-500 bp) of the 16S rRNA gene and 348 representative clone sequences (approximately 1 kbp) from the two geographically separated subseafloor environments. Archaea of the uncultivated Deep-Sea Archaeal Group were consistently the dominant phylotype in sediments associated with methane hydrate. Sediment cores lacking methane hydrates displayed few or no Deep-Sea Archaeal Group phylotypes. Bacterial communities in the methane hydrate-bearing sediments were dominated by members of the JS1 group, Planctomycetes, and Chloroflexi. Results from cluster and principal component analyses, which include previously reported data from the West and East Pacific Margins, suggest that, for these locations in the Pacific Ocean, prokaryotic communities from methane hydrate-bearing sediment cores are distinct from those in hydrate-free cores. The recognition of which microbial groups prevail under distinctive subseafloor environments is a significant step toward determining the role these communities play in Earth's essential biogeochemical processes.

Subfields: Ecology, Environmental Chemistry, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/55d1c01d196c6f3816e7c6274d33e4f6e4601240

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. A. Teske
2. M. Elvert
3. V. Samarkin
4. B. Orcutt
5. K. Hinrichs
6. S. Joye
7. J. Montoya
8. C. Mahaffey

In Environmental Chemistry

1. A. Teske
2. M. Elvert
3. B. Orcutt
4. K. Hinrichs
5. J. Montoya
6. Antje Boetius
7. L. Levin
8. B. Jørgensen

In Global and Planetary Change

1. M. Elvert
2. A. Teske
3. Antje Boetius
4. L. Levin
5. C. Mahaffey

Citations in the corpus

• Metabolic variability in seafloor brines revealed by carbon and sulphur dynamics (2009, background): “4 ): Methanolobus -related sequences similar to those detected at the mud volcano; phylotypes similar to subsurface phylotypes from the Peru margi”
• Microbial Communities of Deep Marine Subsurface Sediments: Molecular and Cultivation Surveys (2006, background): “Methanogen-related 16S rRNA gene sequences included Methanocaldococcus-related phylotypes in the deepest sediment layers of Site 1230 (Inagaki et al. 2006), and members of the Methanobacteriales at ODP Site 1229 (Parkes et al.”
• Cell proliferation at 122°C and isotopically heavy CH4 production by a hyperthermophilic methanogen under high-pressure cultivation (2008, background): “The compositional and isotopic classification (22) is used for identifying the sources of gaseous hydrocarbons found in oil and gas wells and subsurface methane hydrate deposits, even though the responsible microorganisms have yet to be identified in many cases (23).”
• Phylogenetic and Physiological Diversity of Cultured Deep-Biosphere Bacteria from Equatorial Pacific Ocean and Peru Margin Sediments (2007, background): “…molecular approaches yield fundamentally different results (Amann et al. 1995; Wilms et al. 2005), we obtained pure cultures from at least four genera (Brevundimonas sp., Cytophaga sp., Bacillus sp. and Janibacter sp.) detected also by molecular analyses (Parkes et al. 1995; Inagaki et al. 2006).”
• Prokaryotic Populations and Activities in an Interbedded Coal Deposit, Including a Previously Deeply Buried Section (1.6–2.3 km) Above ∼ 150 Ma Basement Rock (2009, background): “…2006), but the detected ANME-1 clones of putative anaerobic methane oxidising Archaea which are common in near surface marine sediments (Orphan et al. 2001; Knittel et al. 2005), are rare in both the marine (Parkes et al. 2005; Inagaki et al. 2006) and terrestrial subsurface (Gihring et al. 2006).”
• Global distribution of microbial abundance and biomass in subseafloor sediment (2012, background): “RNA studies indicate that many of these cells are active (4), have a diverse community composition (5, 6), and exhibit high diversity in their anaerobic metabolic activity (5).”