Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone

Verena B Heuer; Fumio Inagaki; Yuki Morono; Yusuke Kubo; Arthur J Spivack; Bernhard Viehweger; Tina Treude; Felix Beulig; Florence Schubotz; Satoshi Tonai; Stephen A Bowden; Margaret Cramm; Susann Henkel; Takehiro Hirose; Kira Homola; Tatsuhiko Hoshino; Akira Ijiri; Hiroyuki Imachi; Nana Kamiya; Masanori Kaneko; Lorenzo Lagostina; Hayley Manners; Harry-Luke McClelland; Kyle Metcalfe; Natsumi Okutsu; Donald Pan; Maija J Raudsepp; Justine Sauvage; Man-Yin Tsang; David T Wang; Emily Whitaker; Yuzuru Yamamoto; Kiho Yang; Lena Maeda; Rishi R Adhikari; Clemens Glombitza; Yohei Hamada; Jens Kallmeyer; Jenny Wendt; Lars Wörmer; Yasuhiro Yamada; Masataka Kinoshita; Kai-Uwe Hinrichs

doi:10.1126/science.abd7934

Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone

Verena B Heuer, Fumio Inagaki, Yuki Morono, Yusuke Kubo, Arthur J Spivack, Bernhard Viehweger, Tina Treude, Felix Beulig, Florence Schubotz, Satoshi Tonai, Stephen A Bowden, Margaret Cramm, Susann Henkel, Takehiro Hirose, Kira Homola, Tatsuhiko Hoshino, Akira Ijiri, Hiroyuki Imachi, Nana Kamiya, Masanori KanekoLorenzo Lagostina, Hayley Manners, Harry-Luke McClelland, Kyle Metcalfe, Natsumi Okutsu, Donald Pan, Maija J Raudsepp, Justine Sauvage, Man-Yin Tsang, David T Wang, Emily Whitaker, Yuzuru Yamamoto, Kiho Yang, Lena Maeda, Rishi R Adhikari, Clemens Glombitza, Yohei Hamada, Jens Kallmeyer, Jenny Wendt, Lars Wörmer, Yasuhiro Yamada, Masataka Kinoshita, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs

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Abstract

Marine sediments represent a massive microbial ecosystem, but we still do not fully understand what factors shape and limit life underneath the seafloor. Analyzing samples from a subduction zone off the coast of Japan, Heuer et al. found that microbial life, in particular bacterial vegetative cells, decreases as depth and temperature increases down to ∼600 meters below the seafloor, corresponding to temperatures of ∼70°C. Below this limit, endospores are common—a remnant, and a potential reservoir, of bacterial life. Deeper still is a sterile zone, and below 1000 meters is a scalding realm populated by vegetative cells. At such great depths, high concentrations of acetate and sulfate coexist, and there are also signs of hyperthermophilic methanogenesis. These data provide a fascinating window into an extreme and inhospitable environment that nonetheless supports microbial life.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1230-1234
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	370
Issue number	6521
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd7934
Publication status	Published - 4 Dec 2020

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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 370, 04 Dec 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd7934
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Cite this

Heuer, V. B., Inagaki, F., Morono, Y., Kubo, Y., Spivack, A. J., Viehweger, B., Treude, T., Beulig, F., Schubotz, F., Tonai, S., Bowden, S. A., Cramm, M., Henkel, S., Hirose, T., Homola, K., Hoshino, T., Ijiri, A., Imachi, H., Kamiya, N., ... Hinrichs, K-U. (2020). Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone. Science, 370(6521), 1230-1234. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd7934

Heuer, VB, Inagaki, F, Morono, Y, Kubo, Y, Spivack, AJ, Viehweger, B, Treude, T, Beulig, F, Schubotz, F, Tonai, S, Bowden, SA, Cramm, M, Henkel, S, Hirose, T, Homola, K, Hoshino, T, Ijiri, A, Imachi, H, Kamiya, N, Kaneko, M, Lagostina, L, Manners, H, McClelland, H-L, Metcalfe, K, Okutsu, N, Pan, D, Raudsepp, MJ, Sauvage, J, Tsang, M-Y, Wang, DT, Whitaker, E, Yamamoto, Y, Yang, K, Maeda, L, Adhikari, RR, Glombitza, C, Hamada, Y, Kallmeyer, J, Wendt, J, Wörmer, L, Yamada, Y, Kinoshita, M & Hinrichs, K-U 2020, 'Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone', Science, vol. 370, no. 6521, pp. 1230-1234. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd7934

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title = "Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone",

abstract = "Marine sediments represent a massive microbial ecosystem, but we still do not fully understand what factors shape and limit life underneath the seafloor. Analyzing samples from a subduction zone off the coast of Japan, Heuer et al. found that microbial life, in particular bacterial vegetative cells, decreases as depth and temperature increases down to ∼600 meters below the seafloor, corresponding to temperatures of ∼70°C. Below this limit, endospores are common—a remnant, and a potential reservoir, of bacterial life. Deeper still is a sterile zone, and below 1000 meters is a scalding realm populated by vegetative cells. At such great depths, high concentrations of acetate and sulfate coexist, and there are also signs of hyperthermophilic methanogenesis. These data provide a fascinating window into an extreme and inhospitable environment that nonetheless supports microbial life.",

author = "Heuer, {Verena B} and Fumio Inagaki and Yuki Morono and Yusuke Kubo and Spivack, {Arthur J} and Bernhard Viehweger and Tina Treude and Felix Beulig and Florence Schubotz and Satoshi Tonai and Bowden, {Stephen A} and Margaret Cramm and Susann Henkel and Takehiro Hirose and Kira Homola and Tatsuhiko Hoshino and Akira Ijiri and Hiroyuki Imachi and Nana Kamiya and Masanori Kaneko and Lorenzo Lagostina and Hayley Manners and Harry-Luke McClelland and Kyle Metcalfe and Natsumi Okutsu and Donald Pan and Raudsepp, {Maija J} and Justine Sauvage and Man-Yin Tsang and Wang, {David T} and Emily Whitaker and Yuzuru Yamamoto and Kiho Yang and Lena Maeda and Adhikari, {Rishi R} and Clemens Glombitza and Yohei Hamada and Jens Kallmeyer and Jenny Wendt and Lars W{\"o}rmer and Yasuhiro Yamada and Masataka Kinoshita and Kai-Uwe Hinrichs",

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AU - Heuer, Verena B

AU - Inagaki, Fumio

AU - Morono, Yuki

AU - Kubo, Yusuke

AU - Spivack, Arthur J

AU - Viehweger, Bernhard

AU - Treude, Tina

AU - Beulig, Felix

AU - Schubotz, Florence

AU - Tonai, Satoshi

AU - Bowden, Stephen A

AU - Cramm, Margaret

AU - Henkel, Susann

AU - Hirose, Takehiro

AU - Homola, Kira

AU - Hoshino, Tatsuhiko

AU - Ijiri, Akira

AU - Imachi, Hiroyuki

AU - Kamiya, Nana

AU - Kaneko, Masanori

AU - Lagostina, Lorenzo

AU - Manners, Hayley

AU - McClelland, Harry-Luke

AU - Metcalfe, Kyle

AU - Okutsu, Natsumi

AU - Pan, Donald

AU - Raudsepp, Maija J

AU - Sauvage, Justine

AU - Tsang, Man-Yin

AU - Wang, David T

AU - Whitaker, Emily

AU - Yamamoto, Yuzuru

AU - Yang, Kiho

AU - Maeda, Lena

AU - Adhikari, Rishi R

AU - Glombitza, Clemens

AU - Hamada, Yohei

AU - Kallmeyer, Jens

AU - Wendt, Jenny

AU - Wörmer, Lars

AU - Yamada, Yasuhiro

AU - Kinoshita, Masataka

AU - Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe

PY - 2020/12/4

Y1 - 2020/12/4

N2 - Marine sediments represent a massive microbial ecosystem, but we still do not fully understand what factors shape and limit life underneath the seafloor. Analyzing samples from a subduction zone off the coast of Japan, Heuer et al. found that microbial life, in particular bacterial vegetative cells, decreases as depth and temperature increases down to ∼600 meters below the seafloor, corresponding to temperatures of ∼70°C. Below this limit, endospores are common—a remnant, and a potential reservoir, of bacterial life. Deeper still is a sterile zone, and below 1000 meters is a scalding realm populated by vegetative cells. At such great depths, high concentrations of acetate and sulfate coexist, and there are also signs of hyperthermophilic methanogenesis. These data provide a fascinating window into an extreme and inhospitable environment that nonetheless supports microbial life.

AB - Marine sediments represent a massive microbial ecosystem, but we still do not fully understand what factors shape and limit life underneath the seafloor. Analyzing samples from a subduction zone off the coast of Japan, Heuer et al. found that microbial life, in particular bacterial vegetative cells, decreases as depth and temperature increases down to ∼600 meters below the seafloor, corresponding to temperatures of ∼70°C. Below this limit, endospores are common—a remnant, and a potential reservoir, of bacterial life. Deeper still is a sterile zone, and below 1000 meters is a scalding realm populated by vegetative cells. At such great depths, high concentrations of acetate and sulfate coexist, and there are also signs of hyperthermophilic methanogenesis. These data provide a fascinating window into an extreme and inhospitable environment that nonetheless supports microbial life.

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DO - 10.1126/science.abd7934

M3 - Article

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VL - 370

SP - 1230

EP - 1234

JO - Science

JF - Science

SN - 0036-8075

IS - 6521

ER -

Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone

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Stephen Bowden

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Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone

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