Role of thiosulfate as a source of energy in the bathypelagic North Atlantic Ocean

The available energy and carbon sources for prokaryotes in the deep ocean remain still largely enigmatic. Reduced sulfur compounds, such as thiosulfate, are a potential energy source for both auto- and heterotrophic marine prokaryotes. Shipboard experiments performed in the North Atlantic using Labrador Sea Water (~2000 m depth) amended with thiosulfate led to an enhanced prokaryotic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fixation. Overall design: Samples collected at 2000 m depth were amended with thiosulfate, thiosulfate plus glucose and acetate, or not amended (control), and incubated for up to 72h, in the dark, at in situ temperature. At the end of the incubation, samples were filtered onto 0.2µm policarbonate filters. The filters were stored at -80ºC until extraction of the RNA. RNA was paired-end sequenced on Illumina HiSeq.