@article{b393c3856d8f49b78eda8f56aed6462f,
title = "A seafloor microbial biome hosted within incipient ferromanganese crusts",
abstract = "Exposed rocks at underwater volcanoes and ridges host complex, abundant and diverse microbial communities. The volcanic glasses associated with these features constitute one of the most geochemically reactive components of the Earths crust. The most commonly held hypothesis is that their oxidation in sea water provides the energy necessary to establish a seafloor biosphere. However, this hypothesis has yet to be directly tested. Here we used synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe mapping, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy techniques to examine the initial chemical changes that occur as the glassy rims of young pillow basalts are colonized by microbial organisms at Loihi seamount, Hawaii. We found little evidence of basalt dissolution. Instead, microbial biofilms were intimately associated with Fe(III)- and Mn(IV)-oxides that had precipitated from sea water onto the fresh basalt surfaces. These accumulations of secondary minerals probably represent the earliest stages of ferromanganese crust formation. We suggest that fluid-derived energy sources, such as dissolved and particulate Fe(II), Mn(II) and organic matter, may support the microbial communities colonizing seafloor rocks to a greater degree than local rock dissolution.",
author = "Templeton, {A. S.} and Knowles, {E. J.} and Eldridge, {D. L.} and Arey, {B. W.} and Dohnalkova, {A. C.} and Webb, {S. M.} and Bailey, {B. E.} and Tebo, {B. M.} and H. Staudigel",
note = "Funding Information: We thank C. Sheehan (OGI) and the crews of the RV Ka{\textquoteright}imikai-o-Kanaloa, RV Kilo Moana and Pisces V (Hawaii Undersea Research Lab), RV Thomas G. Thompson (University of Washington) and ROV Jason II (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), as well as the principal investigators and collaborators associated with FeMO, the NSF Fe Microbial Observatory at Loihi seamount (MCB-0348668). We also thank C. Hansel at Harvard University for providing reference EXAFS spectra of Fe-bearing model compounds. This work was directly supported by the National Science Foundation grant OCE-0433629 (H.S., B.M.T., A.S.T.), the David and Lucille Packard Foundation (A.S.T.) and a NASA Predoctoral Fellowship (E.J.K.). The synchrotron work was conducted on beamlines 2-3 and 11-2 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), a national user facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, through the Structural Molecular Biology Program, supported by DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research and the National Institutes of Health. The FIB-milling and high-resolution SEM and TEM analyses were conducted at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a national scientific user facility at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also supported by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research. A. Buxbaum, FEI Corp., also provided valuable technical assistance in the FIB-SEM preparation.",
year = "2009",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1038/ngeo696",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "2",
pages = "872--876",
journal = "Nature Geoscience",
issn = "1752-0894",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "12",
}