Ultra-deep, fault-bordered sedimentary rocks metagenome Targeted loci environmental

The deep biosphere is the largest habitat on Earth. Several studies even suggest that microorganisms in deep subsurface environments constitute up to 50% of the total biomass and maintain extremely slow metabolic activities, exerting a profound impact on the global elemental cycling among different reservoirs over geological time. Most previous efforts are, however, diverted to examine microbial ecosystems associated with unconsolidated marine sediments at relatively shallower depths (<1 km below seafloor)). In contrast, terrestrial settings are composed of primarily crystalline or consolidated rocks where the hydrological circulation and available substrate would be distinct from those in marine settings. The accessibility to the terrestrial samples dedicated to geomicrobiology research remains rare. Here we propose to apply tag sequencing to a suite of samples collected from the coring to undeformed and displaced sedimentary formations at depths of as great as 3 km below land surface in Taiwan to investigate the community patterns and shifts potentially controlled by the intrinsic rock property and geological framework. We anticipate that the sequencing results combined with other geochemical and cultivation data would provide insights into the distributions, community structures and metabolic functions of microbial communities across various lithology units disturbed by the ongoing thrusting activities over millions of years in the active tectonic region. PI: Li-Hung Lin, National Taiwan University ([e-mail]).