Phylogeny, function and physiology of microbes playing important roles in carbon flow in the marine subsurface environments

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In the past decades, microbial community in the marine subsurface environments have been studied, and total biomass of microbial cells in the marine subsurface was estimated to contribute to 0.6% of the total living biomass carbon on the Earth. However, roles of those deep life were still largely unknown. In this study, we first investigated diversity of cooS gene, which encodes beta subunit of anaerobic carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, in the subseafloor environments. DNA was extracted from marine sediments obtained at Gulf of Mexico, Fuan de Fuca, South Pacific Gyre, Nankai Trough, and off Shimokita peninsula by IODP expeditions. Fragment of cooS gene was amplified by PCR and sequenced. The sequencing results indicated that diversity of cooS gene in the sediments were very small comparing to 16S rRNA gene. Almost all obtained sequences were not related to the known cooS gene sequences in the database and formed distinct clusters in a phylogenetic tree.