Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 325, Issue 5947, Pages 1541-1544Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1174012
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Austrian Science Fund [P20185-B17]
- U.S. National Science Foundation [OCE-0323975, OCE-0848703]
- Max Planck Society
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P 20185] Funding Source: researchfish
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0848703] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P20185] Funding Source: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
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Microorganisms have been repeatedly discovered in environments that do not support their metabolic activity. Identifying and quantifying these misplaced organisms can reveal dispersal mechanisms that shape natural microbial diversity. Using endospore germination experiments, we estimated a stable supply of thermophilic bacteria into permanently cold Arctic marine sediment at a rate exceeding 10(8) spores per square meter per year. These metabolically and phylogenetically diverse Firmicutes show no detectable activity at cold in situ temperatures but rapidly mineralize organic matter by hydrolysis, fermentation, and sulfate reduction upon induction at 50 degrees C. The closest relatives to these bacteria come from warm subsurface petroleum reservoir and ocean crust ecosystems, suggesting that seabed fluid flow from these environments is delivering thermophiles to the cold ocean. These transport pathways may broadly influence microbial community composition in the marine environment.
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