Journal article
Methyl-compound use and slow growth characterize microbial life in 2-km-deep subseafloor coal and shale beds
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 114(44), pp E9206-E9215
31 Oct 2017
PMID: 29078310
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The past decade of scientific ocean drilling has revealed seemingly ubiquitous, slow-growing microbial life within a range of deep biosphere habitats. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 337 expanded these studies by successfully coring Miocene-aged coal beds 2 km below the seafloor hypothesized to be "hot spots" for microbial life. To characterize the activity of coal-associated microorganisms from this site, a series of stable isotope probing (SIP) experiments were conducted using intact pieces of coal and overlying shale incubated at in situ temperatures (45 degrees C). The 30-month SIP incubations were amended with deuterated water as a passive tracer for growth and different combinations of C-13- or N-15-labeled methanol, methylamine, and ammonium added at low (micromolar) concentrations to investigate methylotrophy in the deep subseafloor biosphere. Although the cell densities were low (50-2,000 cells per cubic centimeter), bulk geochemical measurements and single-cell-targeted nanometer-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry demonstrated active metabolism of methylated substrates by the thermally adapted microbial assemblage, with differing substrate utilization profiles between coal and shale incubations. The conversion of labeled methylamine and methanol was predominantly through heterotrophic processes, with only minor stimulation of methanogenesis. These findings were consistent with in situ and incubation 16S rRNA gene surveys. Microbial growth estimates in the incubations ranged from several months to over 100 y, representing some of the slowest direct measurements of environmental microbial biosynthesis rates. Collectively, these data highlight a small, but viable, deep coal bed biosphere characterized by extremely slow-growing heterotrophs that can utilize a diverse range of carbon and nitrogen substrates.
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Details
- Title
- Methyl-compound use and slow growth characterize microbial life in 2-km-deep subseafloor coal and shale beds
- Creators
- Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert - California Institute of TechnologyYuki Morono - Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyAkira Ijiri - Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyTatsuhiko Hoshino - Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyKatherine S. Dawson - California Institute of TechnologyFumio lnagaki - Marine Earth Co., Ltd. (Japan)Victoria J. Orphan - California Institute of Technology
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 114(44), pp E9206-E9215
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- GR102 / JSPS Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers (NEXT Program) Post Expedition Award Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship 26251041; 16K14817; 17H03956; 24687004; 15K14907; 15H05608; 24651018 / Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Strategic Fund for Strengthening Leading-Edge Research and Development; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Center for Dark Energy Biosphere (C-DEBI) C-DEBI travel grant for sample processing at the JAMSTEC Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research GBMF3780 / Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation 26251041; 15K14907; 24687004; 15H05608; 24651018; 2665169; 16K14817 / JSPS; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science NNA13AA92A / NASA Astrobiology-Life Underground (NAI-LU)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Environmental Biogeochemistry
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000414127400007
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85032620551
- Other Identifier
- 991022207048804721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Microbiology