Metabolic and population profiles of active subseafloor autotrophs in young oceanic crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are hotspots for life in the dark ocean, where rich animal ecosystems are supported by microbial primary producers utilizing the abundant chemical energy supplied by high-temperature water-rock reactions. Despite increasing knowledge about the geochemistry and microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, there is still a gap in our understanding of the key microbial players who fix much of the carbon at these sites, especially in the productive subseafloor. In this study, stable isotope probing was used to label active microbial autotrophs in diffuse flow venting fluids from three sites over 2 years and was combined with metatranscriptomic sequencing to identify their specific metabolic strategies. This research highlights the microbial community composition, function, gene regulation, and population dynamics that enable hydrothermal ecosystems to persist.

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Publication Details

Journal
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Published
2025-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01868-25
Primary Topic
Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
Type
article
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article

Metabolic and population profiles of active subseafloor autotrophs in young oceanic crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Christopher K. Algar, Sharon L. Grim, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Emily Reddington et al.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
article

Metabolic and population profiles of active subseafloor autotrophs in young oceanic crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Christopher K. Algar, Sharon L. Grim, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Emily Reddington, Sabrina M. Elkassas, Lucy C. Stewart, James F. Holden, Begüm D. Topçuoğlu, Julie A. Huber, D. A. Butterfield, Claudia Fortunato, G. Proskurowski, Joseph J. Vallino, Benjamin T. Larson
article en

Abstract

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are hotspots for life in the dark ocean, where rich animal ecosystems are supported by microbial primary producers utilizing the abundant chemical energy supplied by high-temperature water-rock reactions. Despite increasing knowledge about the geochemistry and microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, there is still a gap in our understanding of the key microbial players who fix much of the carbon at these sites, especially in the productive subseafloor. In this study, stable isotope probing was used to label active microbial autotrophs in diffuse flow venting fluids from three sites over 2 years and was combined with metatranscriptomic sequencing to identify their specific metabolic strategies. This research highlights the microbial community composition, function, gene regulation, and population dynamics that enable hydrothermal ecosystems to persist.

Applied and Environmental MicrobiologyVol. 91(11)
Dalhousie University (CA), J. Craig Venter Institute (US), Marine Biological Laboratory (US), Widener University (US), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), University of Massachusetts Amherst (US), Ocean Institute (US), University of California San Diego (US), Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 75%
Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
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