Atlantis Massif subsurface, environmental amplicon tag sequencing

Much of the deep subsurface is characterized by low abundance of microorganisms, making genomic microbiological investigations inherently difficult. Cell extraction techniques in combination with FACS may increase access to genomic information in difficult to obtain, low biomass samples. The samples represent a range of depth, holes and lithologies in a serpentinizing system at a single site, and will give insight into whether there is an endemic crustal community at Atlantis Massif, whether different lithologies and progressive exposure to the sea floor select for specific taxa, or whether the crustal microbiota are composed of ubiquitous generalists as suggested by previous work on gabbroic layer Atlantis Massif crust (Mason, O.U., et al., First investigation of the microbiology of the deepest layer of ocean crust. PLoS ONE, 2010. 5(11): p. e15399). These results will additionally aid in targeting taxa of interest for downstream single cell genomic analyses (for example taxa associated with methanotrophy). Lead PI, Jackie Goordial.

深层地下环境的绝大多数区域均以微生物丰度极低为典型特征，这使得微生物基因组学研究先天面临挑战。
细胞提取技术与荧光激活细胞分选术（Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting, FACS）联用，或可提升从难以获取的低生物量样本中获取基因组信息的可行性。
本次研究的样本涵盖单个研究位点蛇纹石化系统（serpentinizing system）中不同深度、不同钻孔及不同岩性的样品，将助力解答如下科学问题：亚特兰蒂斯地块（Atlantis Massif）是否存在特有地壳微生物群落？不同岩性以及逐步暴露于海底环境的过程是否会对特定类群产生筛选作用？地壳微生物群是否如既往针对亚特兰蒂斯地块辉长岩层（gabbroic layer）地壳的研究（Mason O.U.等. 海洋地壳最深层微生物学首次调查. PLoS ONE, 2010, 5(11): e15399）所提出的那样，由广泛分布的广适性类群构成？
本研究结果还将有助于筛选目标类群，用于后续的单细胞基因组分析（single cell genomic analyses），例如与甲烷营养代谢（methanotrophy）相关的类群。
项目首席研究员：杰基·古迪亚尔（Jackie Goordial）