Microbial metagenomes from three aquifers in the Fennoscandian shield terrestrial deep biosphere reveal metabolic partitioning among populations
Microorganisms in the terrestrial deep biosphere host up to 20% of the earth's biomass and are suggested to be sustained by the gases hydrogen and carbon dioxide. A metagenome analysis of three deep subsurface water types of contrasting age (from <20 to several thousand years) and depth (171...
| Published in: | The ISME Journal |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Uppsala universitet, Limnologi
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-264125 https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.185 |
| Summary: | Microorganisms in the terrestrial deep biosphere host up to 20% of the earth's biomass and are suggested to be sustained by the gases hydrogen and carbon dioxide. A metagenome analysis of three deep subsurface water types of contrasting age (from <20 to several thousand years) and depth (171 to 448 m) revealed phylogenetically distinct microbial community subsets that either passed or were retained by a 0.22 mu m filter. Such cells of <0.22 mu m would have been overlooked in previous studies relying on membrane capture. Metagenomes from the three water types were used for reconstruction of 69 distinct microbial genomes, each with >86% coverage. The populations were dominated by Proteobacteria, Candidate divisions, unclassified archaea and unclassified bacteria. The estimated genome sizes of the <0.22 mu m populations were generally smaller than their phylogenetically closest relatives, suggesting that small dimensions along with a reduced genome size may be adaptations to oligotrophy. Shallow 'modern marine' water showed community members with a predominantly heterotrophic lifestyle. In contrast, the deeper, 'old saline' water adhered more closely to the current paradigm of a hydrogen-driven deep biosphere. The data were finally used to create a combined metabolic model of the deep terrestrial biosphere microbial community. Supplementary information available for this article at http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v10/n5/suppinfo/ismej2015185s1.html |
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