The discovery of the marine "deep biosphere"-microorganisms living deep below the seafloor-is one of the most significant and exciting discoveries since the ocean drilling program began more than 40 years ago. Study of the deep biosphere has become a research frontier and a hot spot both for geological and biological sciences. Here, we introduce the history of the discovery of the deep biosphere, and then we describe the types of environments for life below the seafloor, the energy sources for the living creatures, the diversity of organisms within the deep biosphere, and the new tools and technologies used in this research field. We will highlight several recently completed Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expeditions, which targeted the subseafloor deep biosphere within the crust and sediments. Finally, future research directions and challenges of deep biosphere investigation towards uncovering the roles of subsurface microorganisms will be briefly addressed.
WANG FengPingLU ShuLinORCUTT Beth NXIE WeiCHEN YingXIAO XiangEDWARDS Katrina J
The response of bacteria to various carbohydrates in the deep-sea sediments and the Antarctic soils was investigated using cellulose, chitin, and olive oil. It was found that the carbohydrates significantly increased the corresponding specific ectoenzyme activity (β- glucosidase, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, lipase) in the samples from deep-sea sediments. In the case of Antarctic soil samples, the cellulose or olive oil amendments had minor or no effect on β-glucosidase or lipase activity, except the chitin which stimulated β- N-acetylglucosaminidase production. The responses of the bacteria in the deep-sea sediment sample WP02-3 and the Antarctic soil sample CC-TY2 towards the chitin amendment were further analyzed. Chitin amendments were shown to stimulate the ectoenzyme activity in all the tested sediments and the soils. The bacterial response before and after the carbohydrates amendments were compared by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction. Significant changes were found in the structure and density of the bacterial community in the deep sea sediments as compared to the Antarctic soil sample, where the effects were relatively lower. There was no change in the bacterial population in both studied samples in response to carbohydrates amendments. These data indicate that the bacterial communities in the oligotrophic deep-sea sediments are more dynamic than that in the Antarctic soils as they respond to the nutrient sources efficiently by regulation of ectoenzyme activity and/or changing community structure.
