Thermophilic endospores associated with migrated thermogenic hydrocarbons in deep Gulf of Mexico marine sediments.

ABSTRACT: Dormant endospores of thermophilic bacteria (thermospores) can be detected in cold marine sediments following high-temperature incubation. Thermospores in the cold seabed may be explained by a dispersal history originating in deep biosphere oil reservoir habitats where upward migration of petroleum fluids at hydrocarbon seeps transports viable cells into the overlying ocean. We assessed this deep-to-shallow dispersal hypothesis through geochemical and microbiological analyses of 111 marine sediments from the deep water Eastern Gulf of Mexico. GC-MS and fluorescence confirmed the unambiguous presence of thermogenic hydrocarbons in 71 of these locations, indicating seepage from deeply sourced petroleum in the subsurface. Heating each sediment to 50 °C followed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing rev

SUBMITTER: Chakraborty A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6052102 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature