Metabolically active microbial communities in marine sediment under high-CO(2) and low-pH extremes.

ABSTRACT: Sediment-hosting hydrothermal systems in the Okinawa Trough maintain a large amount of liquid, supercritical and hydrate phases of CO(2) in the seabed. The emission of CO(2) may critically impact the geochemical, geophysical and ecological characteristics of the deep-sea sedimentary environment. So far it remains unclear whether microbial communities that have been detected in such high-CO(2) and low-pH habitats are metabolically active, and if so, what the biogeochemical and ecological consequences for the environment are. In this study, RNA-based molecular approaches and radioactive tracer-based respiration rate assays were combined to study the density, diversity and metabolic activity of microbial communities in CO(2)-seep sediment at the Yonaguni Knoll IV hydrothermal field of the sou

SUBMITTER: Yanagawa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3578575 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature