A Constant Flux of Diverse Thermophilic Bacteria into the Cold Arctic Seabed

Hubert, Claude; Loy, Alexander; Nickel, Maren; Arnosti, Carol; Baranyi, Christian; Brüchert, Volker; Ferdelman, Timothy G.; Finster, Kai; Christensen, Finn Kjær; Rezende, Júlia R. de; Vandieken, Verona; Jørgensen, Bo Barker

doi:10.1126/science.1174012

Cited by 195 publications

(250 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The determined optimum temperature is significantly higher than the reported in situ temperature at cold seeps and gas hydrates (4-8 1C; Suess et al, 1999;Orcutt et al, 2004). Similar findings have been reported in previous studies (Isaksen and Jørgensen, 1996;Finke and Jørgensen, 2008;Hubert et al, 2009). It was commonly observed that microorganisms living in arctic environments displayed optimum growth or respiration rates at temperatures significantly higher than those encountered in situ, whereas microorganisms from hot environments exhibit optimum temperatures closer to the actual in situ temperatures (Stetter et al, 1990;Jørgensen et al, 1992).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Anaerobic degradation of propane and butane by sulfate-reducing bacteria enriched from marine hydrocarbon cold seeps

et al. 2012

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The short-chain, non-methane hydrocarbons propane and butane can contribute significantly to the carbon and sulfur cycles in marine environments affected by oil or natural gas seepage. In the present study, we enriched and identified novel propane and butane-degrading sulfate reducers from marine oil and gas cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico and Hydrate Ridge. The enrichment cultures obtained were able to degrade simultaneously propane and butane, but not other gaseous alkanes. They were cold-adapted, showing highest sulfate-reduction rates between 16 and 20 1C. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries, followed by whole-cell hybridizations with sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes showed that each enrichment culture was dominated by a unique phylotype affiliated with the Desulfosarcina-Desulfococcus cluster within the Deltaproteobacteria. These phylotypes formed a distinct phylogenetic cluster of propane and butane degraders, including sequences from environments associated with hydrocarbon seeps. Incubations with 13 C-labeled substrates, hybridizations with sequence-specific probes and nanoSIMS analyses showed that cells of the dominant phylotypes were the first to become enriched in 13 C, demonstrating that they were directly involved in hydrocarbon degradation. Furthermore, using the nanoSIMS data, carbon assimilation rates were calculated for the dominant cells in each enrichment culture.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Anaerobic degradation of propane and butane by sulfate-reducing bacteria enriched from marine hydrocarbon cold seeps

et al. 2012

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“…The present study also raises the question of whether microbes in extreme environments are actually functioning there or are being constantly deposited from elsewhere (and thus end up being found in clone libraries and culturing efforts even if they cannot function in those environments [42]). At present, this remains an open question for soils of both the high Himalayas and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, but there is accumulating evidence that photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophs can function in similar extreme soils of the high Andes and Rocky Mountains [4,14,43].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeography of microbial phototrophs in the dry valleys of the high Himalayas and Antarctica

et al. 2010

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High-elevation valleys in dry areas of the Himalayas are among the most extreme, yet least explored environments on Earth. These barren, rocky valleys are subjected to year-round temperature fluctuations across the freezing point and very low availability of water and nutrients, causing previous workers to hypothesize that no photoautotrophic life (primary producers) exists in these locations. However, there has been no work using modern biogeochemical or culture-independent molecular methods to test the hypothesis that photoautotrophs are absent from high Himalayan soil systems. Here, we show that although microbial biomass levels are as low as those of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, there are abundant microbial photoautotrophs, displaying unexpected phylogenetic diversity, in barren soils from just below the permanent ice line of the central Himalayas. Furthermore, we discovered that one of the dominant algal clades from the high Himalayas also contains the dominant algae in culture-independent surveys of both soil and ice samples from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, revealing an unexpected link between these environmentally similar but geographically very distant systems. Phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses demonstrated that although this algal clade is globally distributed to other high-altitude and high-latitude soils, it shows significant genetic isolation by geographical distance patterns, indicating local adaptation and perhaps speciation in each region. Our results are the first to demonstrate the remarkable similarities of microbial life of arid soils of Antarctica and the high Himalayas. Our findings are a starting point for future comparative studies of the dry valleys of the Himalayas and Antarctica that will yield new insights into the cold and dry limits to life on Earth.

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“…Peter et al 2014), and dormancy allows for persistence within less than favorable habitats (e.g. Hubert et al 2009). Thus, microbial mechanisms for dispersal and dormancy may allow microorganisms adapted to disparate habitats to coexist.…”

Section: Local Rarity Along Habitat Gradients Linked By Regional Metamentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifestyles of rarity: understanding heterotrophic strategies to inform the ecology of the microbial rare biosphere

Newton¹,

Shade²

2016

Aquat. Microb. Ecol.

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There are patterns in the dynamics of rare taxa that lead to hypotheses about their lifestyles. For example, persistently rare taxa may be oligotrophs that are adapted for efficiency in resource-limiting environments, while conditionally rare or blooming taxa may be copiotrophs that are adapted to rapid growth when resources are available. Of course, the trophic strategies of microorganisms have direct ecological implications for their abundances, contributions to community structure, and role in nutrient turnover. We summarize general frameworks for separately considering rarity and heterotrophy, pulling examples from a variety of ecosystems. We then integrate these 2 topics to discuss the technical and conceptual challenges to understanding their precise linkages. Because much has been investigated especially in marine aquatic environments, we finally extend the discussion to lifestyles of rarity for freshwater lakes by offering case studies of Lake Michigan lineages that have rare and prevalent patterns hypothesized to be characteristic of oligotrophs and copiotrophs. To conclude, we suggest moving forward from assigning dichotomies of rarity/prevalence and oligotrophs/copiotrophs towards their more nuanced continua, which can be linked via genomic information and coupled to quantifications of microbial physiologies during cell maintenance and growth.

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A Constant Flux of Diverse Thermophilic Bacteria into the Cold Arctic Seabed

Cited by 195 publications

References 24 publications

Anaerobic degradation of propane and butane by sulfate-reducing bacteria enriched from marine hydrocarbon cold seeps

Anaerobic degradation of propane and butane by sulfate-reducing bacteria enriched from marine hydrocarbon cold seeps

Phylogeography of microbial phototrophs in the dry valleys of the high Himalayas and Antarctica

Lifestyles of rarity: understanding heterotrophic strategies to inform the ecology of the microbial rare biosphere

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