Shallow submarine hydrothermal systems in the Aeolian Volcanic Arc, Italy

The majority of known high-temperature hydrothermal vents occur at mid-ocean ridges and back-arc spreading centers, typically at water depths from 2000 to 4000 meters. Compared with 30 years of hydrothermal research along spreading centers in the deep parts of the ocean, exploration of the approximately 700 submarine arc volcanoes is relatively recent [de Ronde et al., 2003]. At these submarine arc volcanoes, active hydrothermal vents are located at unexpectedly shallow water depth (95% at <1600-meter depth), which has important consequences for the style of venting, the nature of associated mineral deposits, and the local biological communities. As part of an ongoing multinational research effort to study shallow submarine volcanic arcs, two hydrothermal systems in the submerged part of the Aeolian arc have been investigated in detail during research cruises by R/V Poseidon (July 2006) and R/V Meteor (August 2007). Comprehensive seafloor video surveys were conducted using a remotely operated vehicle, and drilling to a depth of 5 meters was carried out using a lander-type submersible drill. This research has resulted in the first detailed, three-dimensional documentation of shallow submarine hydrothermal systems on arc volcanoe

Culture dependent and independent analyses of 16S rRNA and ATP citrate lyase genes : a comparison of microbial communities from different black smoker chimneys on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Author Posting. © Springer, 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Extremophiles 12 (2008): 627-640, doi:10.1007/s00792-008-0167-5.The bacterial and archaeal communities of three deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR; Rainbow, Logatchev and Broken Spur) were investigated using an integrated culture-dependent and independent approach. Comparative molecular phylogenetic analyses, using the 16S rRNA gene and the deduced amino acid sequences of the alpha and beta subunits of the ATP citrate lyase encoding genes were carried out on natural microbial communities, on an enrichment culture obtained from the Broken Spur chimney, and on novel chemolithoautotrophic bacteria and reference strains originally isolated from several different deep-sea vents. Our data showed that the three MAR hydrothermal vent chimneys investigated in this study host very different microbial assemblages. The microbial community of the Rainbow chimney was dominated by thermophilic, autotrophic, hydrogen-oxidizing, sulfur- and nitrate reducing Epsilonproteobacteria related to the genus Caminibacter. The detection of sequences related to sulfur-reducing bacteria and archaea (Archaeoglobus) indicated that thermophilic sulfate reduction might also be occurring at this site. The Logatchev bacterial community included several sequences related to mesophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, while the archaeal component of this chimney was dominated by sequences related to the ANME-2 lineage, suggesting that anaerobic oxidation of methane may be occurring at this site. Comparative analyses of the ATP citrate lyase encoding genes from natural microbial communities suggested that Epsilonproteobacteria were the dominant primary producers using the reverse TCA cycle (rTCA) at Rainbow, while Aquificales of the genera Desulfurobacterium and Persephonella were prevalent in the Broken Spur chimney.This research was supported by NSF grants MCB 04-56676 (C.V.), OCE 03-27353 (C.V.), MCB 04-56689 (S.M.S.), a grant from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station to C.V., and a NIH Ph.D. Training Program in Biotechnology Fellowship (NIH NIGMS 5 T32 GM08339) to J.V. M.H. was supported through a postdoctoral scholarship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Pathways of carbon and energy metabolism of the epibiotic community associated with the deep-sea hydrothermal vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata

© The Authors, 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e16018, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016018.The shrimp Rimicaris exoculata dominates the faunal biomass at many deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In its enlarged gill chamber it harbors a specialized epibiotic bacterial community for which a nutritional role has been proposed. We analyzed specimens from the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by complementing a 16S rRNA gene survey with the analysis of genes involved in carbon, sulfur and hydrogen metabolism. In addition to Epsilon- and Gammaproteobacteria, the epibiotic community unexpectedly also consists of Deltaproteobacteria of a single phylotype, closely related to the genus Desulfocapsa. The association of these phylogenetic groups with the shrimp was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Based on functional gene analyses, we hypothesize that the Gamma- and Epsilonproteobacteria are capable of autotrophic growth by oxidizing reduced sulfur compounds, and that the Deltaproteobacteria are also involved in sulfur metabolism. In addition, the detection of proteobacterial hydrogenases indicates the potential for hydrogen oxidation in these communities. Interestingly, the frequency of these phylotypes in 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from the mouthparts differ from that of the inner lining of the gill chamber, indicating potential functional compartmentalization. Our data show the specific association of autotrophic bacteria with Rimicaris exoculata from the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field, and suggest that autotrophic carbon fixation is contributing to the productivity of the epibiotic community with the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle as one important carbon fixation pathway. This has not been considered in previous studies of carbon fixation and stable carbon isotope composition of the shrimp and its epibionts. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of sulfur-oxidizing and sulfur-reducing epibionts raises the possibility that both may be involved in the syntrophic exchange of sulfur compounds, which could increase the overall efficiency of this epibiotic community.Funding was provided through NSF grant OCE-0452333 and the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, Germany (SMS), the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation (DFG) Cluster of Excellence at Marum, and MOMARnet (ND, JMP), and IFM-GEOMAR (MH, JFI)

Water safety plan enhancements with improved drinking water quality detection techniques

Drinking water quality has been regulated in most European countries for nearly two decades by the drinking water directive 98/83/EC. The directive is now under revision with the goal of meeting stricter demands for safe water for all citizens, as safe water has been recognized as a human right by the United Nations. An important change to the directive is the implementation of a risk-based approach in all regulated water supplies. The European Union Framework Seventh Programme Aquavalens project has developed several new detection technologies for pathogens and indicators and tested them in water supplies in seven European countries. One of the tasks of the project was to evaluate the impact of these new techniques on water safety and on water safety management. Data were collected on risk factors to water safety for five large supplies in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK, and for fifteen small water supplies in Scotland, Portugal and Serbia, via a questionnaire aiming to ascertain risk factors and the stage of implementation of Water Safety Plans, and via site-specific surveys known as Sanitary Site Inspection. Samples were collected from the water supplies from all stages of water production to delivery. Pathogens were detected in around 23% of the 470 samples tested. Fecal contamination was high in raw water and even in treated water at the small supplies. Old infrastructure was considered a challenge at all the water supplies. The results showed that some of the technique, if implemented as part of the water safety management, can detect rapidly the most common waterborne pathogens and fecal pollution indicators and therefore have a great early warning potential; can improve water safety for the consumer; can validate whether mitigation methods are working as intended; and can confirm the quality of the water at source and at the tap

The Genome of Deep-Sea Vent Chemolithoautotroph Thiomicrospira crunogena XCL-2

Presented here is the complete genome sequence of Thiomicrospira crunogena XCL-2, representative of ubiquitous chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. This gammaproteobacterium has a single chromosome (2,427,734 base pairs), and its genome illustrates many of the adaptations that have enabled it to thrive at vents globally. It has 14 methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein genes, including four that may assist in positioning it in the redoxcline. A relative abundance of coding sequences (CDSs) encoding regulatory proteins likely control the expression of genes encoding carboxysomes, multiple dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate transporters, as well as a phosphonate operon, which provide this species with a variety of options for acquiring these substrates from the environment. Thiom. crunogena XCL-2 is unusual among obligate sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in relying on the Sox system for the oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds. The genome has characteristics consistent with an obligately chemolithoautotrophic lifestyle, including few transporters predicted to have organic allocrits, and Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle CDSs scattered throughout the genome

Life at Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents - Oases Under Water

This paper briefly recapitulates the discovery of the first deep sea hydrothermal vents and the research undertaken within the past 30 years, followed by an overview of their biological aspects. Highlighting two unique characteristics of organisms found in this exceptional habitat: their adaptation to obtain food by microbial energy transformation and recently discovered symbiotic associations between animals and bacteria, it argues that these exclusive features qualify hydrothermal vent habitats as unique ecosystems, and concludes with comments on recent and future scientific studie