Soudan Iron Mine marker gene sequencing

We used marker gene sequencing of microbial community DNA retrieved from a Banded Iron Formation at the Soudan Iron Mine, Minnesota USA. The mine offers unique access to subsurface microbial communities across a wide range of geological, geochemical and hydrological conditions, including access to a deep subsurface, anoxic, iron rich, CaCl2 brine located beneath the lowest level of the mine, 713.5 m or 2341 feet. The brine seeps into the bottom level of the mine from a number of boreholes drilled just prior to its closing in the early 1960s. Obtaining a thorough inventory of the microbial communities across a range of geochemical and geological conditions will help develop hypotheses regarding species distribution with depth and along geochemical gradients in a deep terrestrial ecosystem. PI, Jeffrey Gralnick, University of Minnesota. See also PRJNA340294 and PRJNA248749.

本研究采用标记基因测序（marker gene sequencing）技术，对取自美国明尼苏达州苏安铁矿（Soudan Iron Mine）条带状铁建造（Banded Iron Formation）中的微生物群落DNA进行分析。该矿井可提供接触多种地质、地球化学及水文条件下的地下微生物群落的独特契机，其中包括位于矿井最底层下方713.5米（即2341英尺）处的深部地下缺氧富铁氯化钙卤水。该卤水通过20世纪60年代初矿井关闭前钻凿的多个钻孔渗入矿井底层。对覆盖多种地球化学与地质条件的微生物群落开展全面编目，将有助于构建陆地深部生态系统中物种沿深度梯度及地球化学梯度分布的相关假说。项目负责人（Principal Investigator, PI）为明尼苏达大学的Jeffrey Gralnick。相关数据集亦可参考编号PRJNA340294与PRJNA248749。