Microbial communities associated with ferromanganese nodules and the surrounding sediments.

ABSTRACT: The formation and maintenance of deep-sea ferromanganese/polymetallic nodules still remains a mystery 140 years after their discovery. The wealth of rare metals concentrated in these nodules has spurred global interest in exploring the mining potential of these resources. The prevailing theory of abiotic formation has been called into question and the role of microbial metabolisms in nodule development is now an area of active research. To understand the community structure of microbes associated with nodules and their surrounding sediment, we performed targeted sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene from three nodules collected from the central South Pacific. Results have shown that the microbial communities of the nodules are significantly distinct from the commun

SUBMITTER: Tully BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3691505 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature