Marine Deep Biosphere Microbial Communities Assemble in Near-Surface Sediments in Aarhus Bay.

ABSTRACT: Analyses of microbial diversity in marine sediments have identified a core set of taxa unique to the marine deep biosphere. Previous studies have suggested that these specialized communities are shaped by processes in the surface seabed, in particular that their assembly is associated with the transition from the bioturbated upper zone to the nonbioturbated zone below. To test this hypothesis, we performed a fine-scale analysis of the distribution and activity of microbial populations within the upper 50 cm of sediment from Aarhus Bay (Denmark). Sequencing and qPCR were combined to determine the depth distributions of bacterial and archaeal taxa (16S rRNA genes) and sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRM) (dsrB gene). Mapping of radionuclides throughout the sediment revealed a region

SUBMITTER: Petro C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6474314 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature