Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

Fumio Inagaki; Kai-Uwe Hinrichs; Yusuke Kubo; Marshall W Bowles; Verena B  Heuer; Wei-li Hong; Tatsuhiko Hoshino; Akira Ijiri; Hiroyuki Imachi; Motoo Ito; Mark Lever; Masanori Kaneko; Yu-shi Lin; Barbara A Methé; Sumito Morita; Yuki Morono; Wataru Tanikawa; Monika Bihan; Stephen Alan Bowden; Markus Elvert; Clemens Glombitza; Doris Gross; Guy Harrington; Tomoyukie Hori; Kelvin Li; David Robert Limmer; Chang-Hong Liu; Masafumi Murayama; Naohiko Ohkouchi; Shuhei Ono; Sook-Young Park; Stephen C Phillips; Xavier Prieto-Mollar; Marcella Purkey; Natascha Riedinger; Yoshinori Sanada; Justine Sauvage; Glen Snyder; Rita Susilawati; Yoshinori Takano; Eiji Tasumi; Takeshi Terada; Hitoshi Tomaru; Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert; David T Wang; Yasuhiro Yamada

doi:10.1126/science.aaa6882

Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

Fumio Inagaki, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Yusuke Kubo, Marshall W Bowles, Verena B Heuer, Wei-li Hong, Tatsuhiko Hoshino, Akira Ijiri, Hiroyuki Imachi, Motoo Ito, Mark Lever, Masanori Kaneko, Yu-shi Lin, Barbara A Methé, Sumito Morita, Yuki Morono, Wataru Tanikawa, Monika Bihan, Stephen Alan Bowden, Markus ElvertClemens Glombitza, Doris Gross, Guy Harrington, Tomoyukie Hori, Kelvin Li, David Robert Limmer, Chang-Hong Liu, Masafumi Murayama, Naohiko Ohkouchi, Shuhei Ono, Sook-Young Park, Stephen C Phillips, Xavier Prieto-Mollar, Marcella Purkey, Natascha Riedinger, Yoshinori Sanada, Justine Sauvage, Glen Snyder, Rita Susilawati, Yoshinori Takano, Eiji Tasumi, Takeshi Terada, Hitoshi Tomaru, Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, David T Wang, Yasuhiro Yamada

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Abstract

Microbial populations inhabit deeply buried marine sediments, but the extent of this vast ecosystem is poorly constrained. Here we provide evidence for the existence of microbial communities in sediment associated with lignite coalbeds at ~1.9 to 2.5 km below the seafloor in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Microbial methanogenesis is indicated by isotopic data of methane and carbon dioxide, methanogenic biomarkers, cultivation and gas composition results. Rigorous protocols aimed at minimizing and correcting for sample contamination resulted in indigenous biomass estimates as low as ~10 cells cm 3 or less in the ~40 to 60°C warm sediments, while coal-bearing sediment layers had elevated cell concentrations. This ultra-deep microbial community is taxonomically distinct from typical shallower deep-biosphere communities found at this and other marine locations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	420-424
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	349
Issue number	6246
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa6882
Publication status	Published - 24 Jul 2015

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This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 24/07/2015 Vol. 349 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa6882
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Stephen Bowden
- School of Geosciences, Geology and Geophysics - Reader
Person: Academic

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Inagaki, F., Hinrichs, K-U., Kubo, Y., Bowles, M. W., Heuer, V. B., Hong, W., Hoshino, T., Ijiri, A., Imachi, H., Ito, M., Lever, M., Kaneko, M., Lin, Y., Methé, B. A., Morita, S., Morono, Y., Tanikawa, W., Bihan, M., Bowden, S. A., ... Yamada, Y. (2015). Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor. Science, 349(6246), 420-424. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa6882

Inagaki, F, Hinrichs, K-U, Kubo, Y, Bowles, MW, Heuer, VB, Hong, W, Hoshino, T, Ijiri, A, Imachi, H, Ito, M, Lever, M, Kaneko, M, Lin, Y, Methé, BA, Morita, S, Morono, Y, Tanikawa, W, Bihan, M, Bowden, SA, Elvert, M, Glombitza, C, Gross, D, Harrington, G, Hori, T, Li, K, Limmer, DR, Liu, C-H, Murayama, M, Ohkouchi, N, Ono, S, Park, S-Y, Phillips, SC, Prieto-Mollar, X, Purkey, M, Riedinger, N, Sanada, Y, Sauvage, J, Snyder, G, Susilawati, R, Takano, Y, Tasumi, E, Terada, T, Tomaru, H, Trembath-Reichert, E, T Wang, D & Yamada, Y 2015, 'Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor', Science, vol. 349, no. 6246, pp. 420-424. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa6882

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abstract = "Microbial populations inhabit deeply buried marine sediments, but the extent of this vast ecosystem is poorly constrained. Here we provide evidence for the existence of microbial communities in sediment associated with lignite coalbeds at ~1.9 to 2.5 km below the seafloor in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Microbial methanogenesis is indicated by isotopic data of methane and carbon dioxide, methanogenic biomarkers, cultivation and gas composition results. Rigorous protocols aimed at minimizing and correcting for sample contamination resulted in indigenous biomass estimates as low as ~10 cells cm 3 or less in the ~40 to 60°C warm sediments, while coal-bearing sediment layers had elevated cell concentrations. This ultra-deep microbial community is taxonomically distinct from typical shallower deep-biosphere communities found at this and other marine locations.",

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AU - Inagaki, Fumio

AU - Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe

AU - Kubo, Yusuke

AU - Bowles, Marshall W

AU - Heuer, Verena B

AU - Hong, Wei-li

AU - Hoshino, Tatsuhiko

AU - Ijiri, Akira

AU - Imachi, Hiroyuki

AU - Ito, Motoo

AU - Lever, Mark

AU - Kaneko, Masanori

AU - Lin, Yu-shi

AU - Methé, Barbara A

AU - Morita, Sumito

AU - Morono, Yuki

AU - Tanikawa, Wataru

AU - Bihan, Monika

AU - Bowden, Stephen Alan

AU - Elvert, Markus

AU - Glombitza, Clemens

AU - Gross, Doris

AU - Harrington, Guy

AU - Hori, Tomoyukie

AU - Li, Kelvin

AU - Limmer, David Robert

AU - Liu, Chang-Hong

AU - Murayama, Masafumi

AU - Ohkouchi, Naohiko

AU - Ono, Shuhei

AU - Park, Sook-Young

AU - Phillips, Stephen C

AU - Prieto-Mollar, Xavier

AU - Purkey, Marcella

AU - Riedinger, Natascha

AU - Sanada, Yoshinori

AU - Sauvage, Justine

AU - Snyder, Glen

AU - Susilawati, Rita

AU - Takano, Yoshinori

AU - Tasumi, Eiji

AU - Terada, Takeshi

AU - Tomaru, Hitoshi

AU - Trembath-Reichert, Elizabeth

AU - T Wang, David

AU - Yamada, Yasuhiro

PY - 2015/7/24

Y1 - 2015/7/24

N2 - Microbial populations inhabit deeply buried marine sediments, but the extent of this vast ecosystem is poorly constrained. Here we provide evidence for the existence of microbial communities in sediment associated with lignite coalbeds at ~1.9 to 2.5 km below the seafloor in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Microbial methanogenesis is indicated by isotopic data of methane and carbon dioxide, methanogenic biomarkers, cultivation and gas composition results. Rigorous protocols aimed at minimizing and correcting for sample contamination resulted in indigenous biomass estimates as low as ~10 cells cm 3 or less in the ~40 to 60°C warm sediments, while coal-bearing sediment layers had elevated cell concentrations. This ultra-deep microbial community is taxonomically distinct from typical shallower deep-biosphere communities found at this and other marine locations.

AB - Microbial populations inhabit deeply buried marine sediments, but the extent of this vast ecosystem is poorly constrained. Here we provide evidence for the existence of microbial communities in sediment associated with lignite coalbeds at ~1.9 to 2.5 km below the seafloor in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Microbial methanogenesis is indicated by isotopic data of methane and carbon dioxide, methanogenic biomarkers, cultivation and gas composition results. Rigorous protocols aimed at minimizing and correcting for sample contamination resulted in indigenous biomass estimates as low as ~10 cells cm 3 or less in the ~40 to 60°C warm sediments, while coal-bearing sediment layers had elevated cell concentrations. This ultra-deep microbial community is taxonomically distinct from typical shallower deep-biosphere communities found at this and other marine locations.

U2 - 10.1126/science.aaa6882

DO - 10.1126/science.aaa6882

M3 - Article

VL - 349

SP - 420

EP - 424

JO - Science

JF - Science

SN - 0036-8075

IS - 6246

ER -

Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

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