Environmental Genomics Reveals a Single-Species Ecosystem Deep Within Earth

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 322; no. 5899; pp. 275 - 278
• Main Authors: Chivian, Dylan, Brodie, Eoin L, Alm, Eric J, Culley, David E, Dehal, Paramvir S, DeSantis, Todd Z, Gihring, Thomas M, Lapidus, Alla, Lin, Li-Hung, Lowry, Stephen R, Moser, Duane P, Richardson, Paul M, Southam, Gordon, Wanger, Greg, Pratt, Lisa M, Andersen, Gary L, Hazen, Terry C, Brockman, Fred J, Arkin, Adam P, Onstott, Tullis C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 10.10.2008; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Ammonia - metabolism; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Archaea; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon; Carbon - metabolism; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Ecosystem; Ecosystem studies; Ecosystems; Environmental science; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Bacterial; Genome, Bacterial; Genomes; Genomics; Genomics - methods; Gold; Metagenomics; Microbial ecology; Microorganisms; Mining; Molecular Sequence Data; Movement; Nitrogen fixation; Open reading frames; Oxidation-Reduction; Peptococcaceae - classification; Peptococcaceae - genetics; Peptococcaceae - growth & development; Peptococcaceae - physiology; Phylogeny; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil; Soil microorganisms; South Africa; Spores, Bacterial - physiology; Sulfates; Sulfates - metabolism; Temperature; Water Microbiology; South Africa; Archaeobacteria; Genomics; Mine; Bacteria; Environment; Isolation; Thermophily; Microorganism; Genome; Depth
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1155495

DNA from low-biodiversity fracture water collected at 2.8-kilometer depth in a South African gold mine was sequenced and assembled into a single, complete genome. This bacterium, Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator, composes >99.9% of the microorganisms inhabiting the fluid phase of this particular fracture. Its genome indicates a motile, sporulating, sulfate-reducing, chemoautotrophic thermophile that can fix its own nitrogen and carbon by using machinery shared with archaea. Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator is capable of an independent life-style well suited to long-term isolation from the photosphere deep within Earth's crust and offers an example of a natural ecosystem that appears to have its biological component entirely encoded within a single genome.