Cargando…
Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life
The continental deep subsurface is likely the largest reservoir of biofilm-based microbial biomass on Earth, but the role of mineral selectivity in regulating its distribution and diversity is unclear. Minerals can produce hotspots for intraterrestrial life by locally enhancing biofilm biomass. Meta...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8062869/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897673 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.658988 |
_version_ | 1783681853460316160 |
---|---|
author | Casar, Caitlin P. Kruger, Brittany R. Osburn, Magdalena R. |
author_facet | Casar, Caitlin P. Kruger, Brittany R. Osburn, Magdalena R. |
author_sort | Casar, Caitlin P. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The continental deep subsurface is likely the largest reservoir of biofilm-based microbial biomass on Earth, but the role of mineral selectivity in regulating its distribution and diversity is unclear. Minerals can produce hotspots for intraterrestrial life by locally enhancing biofilm biomass. Metabolic transformations of minerals by subsurface biofilms may occur widely with the potential to significantly impact subsurface biogeochemical cycles. However, the degree of impact depends upon the amount of biofilm biomass and its relationship to host rock mineralogy, estimates that are currently loosely constrained to non-existent. Here, we use in situ cultivation of biofilms on native rocks and coupled microscopy/spectroscopy to constrain mineral selectivity by biofilms in a deep continental subsurface setting: the Deep Mine Microbial Observatory (DeMMO). Through hotspot analysis and spatial modeling approaches we find that mineral distributions, particularly those putatively metabolized by microbes, indeed drive biofilm distribution at DeMMO, and that bioleaching of pyrite may be a volumetrically important process influencing fluid geochemistry at this site when considered at the kilometer scale. Given the ubiquity of iron-bearing minerals at this site and globally, and the amount of biomass they can support, we posit that rock-hosted biofilms likely contribute significantly to subsurface biogeochemical cycles. As more data becomes available, future efforts to estimate biomass in the continental subsurface should incorporate host rock mineralogy. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8062869 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-80628692021-04-24 Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life Casar, Caitlin P. Kruger, Brittany R. Osburn, Magdalena R. Front Microbiol Microbiology The continental deep subsurface is likely the largest reservoir of biofilm-based microbial biomass on Earth, but the role of mineral selectivity in regulating its distribution and diversity is unclear. Minerals can produce hotspots for intraterrestrial life by locally enhancing biofilm biomass. Metabolic transformations of minerals by subsurface biofilms may occur widely with the potential to significantly impact subsurface biogeochemical cycles. However, the degree of impact depends upon the amount of biofilm biomass and its relationship to host rock mineralogy, estimates that are currently loosely constrained to non-existent. Here, we use in situ cultivation of biofilms on native rocks and coupled microscopy/spectroscopy to constrain mineral selectivity by biofilms in a deep continental subsurface setting: the Deep Mine Microbial Observatory (DeMMO). Through hotspot analysis and spatial modeling approaches we find that mineral distributions, particularly those putatively metabolized by microbes, indeed drive biofilm distribution at DeMMO, and that bioleaching of pyrite may be a volumetrically important process influencing fluid geochemistry at this site when considered at the kilometer scale. Given the ubiquity of iron-bearing minerals at this site and globally, and the amount of biomass they can support, we posit that rock-hosted biofilms likely contribute significantly to subsurface biogeochemical cycles. As more data becomes available, future efforts to estimate biomass in the continental subsurface should incorporate host rock mineralogy. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8062869/ /pubmed/33897673 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.658988 Text en Copyright © 2021 Casar, Kruger and Osburn. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Microbiology Casar, Caitlin P. Kruger, Brittany R. Osburn, Magdalena R. Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title | Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title_full | Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title_fullStr | Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title_full_unstemmed | Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title_short | Rock-Hosted Subsurface Biofilms: Mineral Selectivity Drives Hotspots for Intraterrestrial Life |
title_sort | rock-hosted subsurface biofilms: mineral selectivity drives hotspots for intraterrestrial life |
topic | Microbiology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8062869/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897673 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.658988 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT casarcaitlinp rockhostedsubsurfacebiofilmsmineralselectivitydriveshotspotsforintraterrestriallife AT krugerbrittanyr rockhostedsubsurfacebiofilmsmineralselectivitydriveshotspotsforintraterrestriallife AT osburnmagdalenar rockhostedsubsurfacebiofilmsmineralselectivitydriveshotspotsforintraterrestriallife |