Microbial metal-sulfide oxidation in inactive hydrothermal vent chimneys suggested by metagenomic and metaproteomic analyses |
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Authors: | Dimitri V Meier Petra Pjevac Wolfgang Bach Stephanie Markert Thomas Schweder John Jamieson Sven Petersen Rudolf Amann Anke Meyerdierks |
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Institution: | 1. Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany;2. MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Petrology of the Ocean Crust group, University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359, Bremen, Germany;3. Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Straße 17, 17489, Greifswald, Germany;4. Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 40 Arctic Ave, Saint John's, NL, A1B 3X7, Canada;5. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Wischhofstraße 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany |
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Abstract: | Metal-sulfides are wide-spread in marine benthic habitats. At deep-sea hydrothermal vents, they occur as massive sulfide chimneys formed by mineral precipitation upon mixing of reduced vent fluids with cold oxygenated sea water. Although microorganisms inhabiting actively venting chimneys and utilizing compounds supplied by the venting fluids are well studied, only little is known about microorganisms inhabiting inactive chimneys. In this study, we combined 16S rRNA gene-based community profiling of sulfide chimneys from the Manus Basin (SW Pacific) with radiometric dating, metagenome (n = 4) and metaproteome (n = 1) analyses. Our results shed light on potential lifestyles of yet poorly characterized bacterial clades colonizing inactive chimneys. These include sulfate-reducing Nitrospirae and sulfide-oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria dominating most of the inactive chimney communities. Our phylogenetic analysis attributed the gammaproteobacterial clades to the recently described Woeseiaceae family and the SSr-clade found in marine sediments around the world. Metaproteomic data identified these Gammaproteobacteria as autotrophic sulfide-oxidizers potentially facilitating metal-sulfide dissolution via extracellular electron transfer. Considering the wide distribution of these gammaproteobacterial clades in marine environments such as hydrothermal vents and sediments, microbially accelerated neutrophilic mineral oxidation might be a globally relevant process in benthic element cycling and a considerable energy source for carbon fixation in marine benthic habitats. |
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