Archaea in organic-lean and organic-rich marine subsurface sediments: an environmental gradient reflected in distinct phylogenetic lineages

• Main Authors: Alan M Durbin, Andreas eTeske
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2012-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Microbiology
• Subjects: Archaea; marine sediments; oligotrophy; subsurface; phylogeny; uncultured archaea
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00168/full

Examining the patterns of archaeal diversity in little-explored organic-lean marine subsurface sediments presents an opportunity to study the association of phylogenetic affiliation and habitat preference in uncultured marine Archaea. Archaeal 16S rRNA clone library datasets across a spectrum of sediment trophic states characterized by a wide range of terminal electron-accepting processes reveals that organic-lean marine sediments in deep marine basins and oligotrophic open ocean locations are inhabited by distinct lineages of archaea that are not found in the more frequently studied, organic-rich continental margin sediments. We hypothesize that different combinations of electron donor and acceptor concentrations along the organic-rich/organic-lean spectrum result in distinct archaeal communities, and propose an integrated classification of habitat characteristics and archaeal community structure.