Microbial diversity in cold seep sediments from the northern South China Sea

作     者：Yong Zhang Xin Su Fang Chen Yuanyuan Wang Lu Jiao Hailiang Dong Yongyang Huang Hongchen Jiang 

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental GeologyChina University of GeosciencesBeijing 100083China School of Ocean SciencesChina University of GeosciencesBeijing 100083China Guangzhou Marine Geology SurveyGuangzhou 510075China Department of GeologyMiami UniversityOxfordOH 45056USA Geomicrobiology LaboratoryScience InstituteChina University of GeosciencesBeijing 100083China 

出 版 物：《Geoscience Frontiers》 (地学前缘（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2012年第3卷第3期

页      面：301-316页

核心收录：

学科分类：070902[理学-地球化学] 0709[理学-地质学] 07[理学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Program on Key Basic Research Project(973 Program)(Grant No.2009CB219502) National Special Foundation(Grant No.GZH200200203-02-01) Non-profit Industry Financial Program of Ministry of Land and Resources of the PRC(Grant No.200811014-02) 

主　　题：16S rRNA Microbial diversity Cold seep Marine sediments Northern South China Sea 

摘      要：South China Sea （SCS） is the largest Western Pacific marginal sea. However, microbial studies have never been performed in the cold seep sediments in the SCS. In 2004, ＂SONNE＂ 177 cruise found two cold seep areas with different water depth in the northern SCS. Haiyang 4 area, where the water depth is around 3000 m, has already been confirmed for active seeping on the seafloor, such as microbial mats, authigenic carbonate crusts and bivalves. We investigated microbial abundance and diver- sity in a 5.55-m sediment core collected from this cold seep area. An integrated approach was employed including geochemistry and 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analyses. Here, we show that microbial abun- dance and diversity along with geochemistry profiles of the sediment core revealed a coupled reaction between sulphate reduction and methane oxidation. Acridine orange direct count results showed that microbial abundance ranges from 105 to 106 cells/g sediment （wet weight）. The depth-related variation of the abundance showed the same trend as the methane concentration profile. Phylogenetic analysis indicated the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria and anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea. The diver- sity was much higher at the surface, but decreased sharply with depth in response to changes in the geochemical conditions of the sediments, such as methane, sulphate concentration and total organic carbon. Marine Benthic Group B, Chloroflexi and JS1 were predominant phylotypes of the archaeal and bacterial libraries, respectively.