spatial structure and activity of sedimentary microbial communities underlying a beggiatoa spp. mat in a gulf of mexico hydrocarbon seep空间结构和沉积的活性微生物群落潜在beggiatoa spp。垫在墨西哥湾油气渗透.pdfVIP

Spatial Structure and Activity of Sedimentary Microbial Communities Underlying a Beggiatoa spp. Mat in a Gulf of Mexico Hydrocarbon Seep 1 1 1 2 3 Karen G. Lloyd *, Daniel B. Albert , Jennifer F. Biddle , Jeffrey P. Chanton , Oscar Pizarro , Andreas Teske1 1 Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America, 2 Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America, 3 Australian Centre for Field Robotics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Abstract Background: Subsurface fluids from deep-sea hydrocarbon seeps undergo methane- and sulfur-cycling microbial transformations near the sediment surface. Hydrocarbon seep habitats are naturally patchy, with a mosaic of active seep sediments and non-seep sediments. Microbial community shifts and changing activity patterns on small spatial scales from seep to non-seep sediment remain to be examined in a comprehensive habitat study. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a transect of biogeochemical measurements and gene expression related to methane- and sulfur-cycling at different sediment depths across a broad Beggiatoa spp. mat at Mississippi Canyon 118 (MC118) in the Gulf of Mexico. High process rates within the mat (,400 cm and ,10 cm from the mat’s edge) contrasted with sharply diminished activity at ,50 cm outside the mat, as shown by sulfate and methane concentration profiles, radiotracer rates of sulfate reduction and methane oxidation, and stable carbon isotopes. Likewise, 16S ribosomal rRNA, dsrAB (dissimilatory sulfite reductase) and mcrA (methyl coenzyme M reductase) mRNA transcripts of sulfate-redu