Recent molecular analyses of Leg 201 subsurface sediments show that microbial communities of deep marine sediments harbor members of distinct, uncultured bacterial and archaeal lineages, in addition to Gram-positive bacteria (Firmicutes and Actinobacteria), members of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides phylum, and Proteobacteria that are detected by cultivation surveys. Several of these subsurface lineages show cosmopolitan occurrence patterns; they can be found in cold marine sediments and in hydrothermal habitats, suggesting a continuous deep subsurface and hydrothermal biosphere. Some archaeal and bacterial lineages appear to be well-diversified generalists that occur in subsurface sediments as well as in a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
1Teske, A.P., 2006. Microbial community composition in deep marine subsurface sediments of ODP Leg 201: sequencing surveys and cultivations. In Jørgensen, B.B., D'Hondt, S.L., and Miller, D.J. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 201 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/201_SR/120/120.htm>. [Cited YYYY-MM-DD]
2University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Marine Sciences, Chapel Hill NC 27599, USA. teske@email.unc.edu
Initial receipt: 17 January 2005
Acceptance: 2 January 2006
Web publication:
31 May 2006
Ms 201SR-120