Twing Katrina I, Ward L M, Kane Zachary K, Sanders Alexa, Price Roy Edward, Pendleton H Lizethe, Giovannelli Donato, Brazelton William J, McGlynn Shawn E
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
Department of Microbiology, Weber State University, Ogden, UT, United States.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Nov 17;13:960335. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.960335. eCollection 2022.
Strýtan Hydrothermal Field (SHF) is a submarine system located in Eyjafördur in northern Iceland composed of two main vents: Big Strýtan and Arnarnesstrýtan. The vents are shallow, ranging from 16 to 70 m water depth, and vent high pH (up to 10.2), moderate temperature (T ∼70°C), anoxic, fresh fluids elevated in dissolved silica, with slightly elevated concentrations of hydrogen and methane. In contrast to other alkaline hydrothermal vents, SHF is unique because it is hosted in basalt and therefore the high pH is not created by serpentinization. While previous studies have assessed the geology and geochemistry of this site, the microbial diversity of SHF has not been explored in detail. Here we present a microbial diversity survey of the actively venting fluids and chimneys from Big Strýtan and Arnarnesstrýtan, using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Community members from the vent fluids are mostly aerobic heterotrophic bacteria; however, within the chimneys oxic, low oxygen, and anoxic habitats could be distinguished, where taxa putatively capable of acetogenesis, sulfur-cycling, and hydrogen metabolism were observed. Very few archaea were observed in the samples. The inhabitants of SHF are more similar to terrestrial hot spring samples than other marine sites. It has been hypothesized that life on Earth (and elsewhere in the solar system) could have originated in an alkaline hydrothermal system, however all other studied alkaline submarine hydrothermal systems to date are fueled by serpentinization. SHF adds to our understandings of hydrothermal vents in relationship to microbial diversity, evolution, and possibly the origin of life.
斯特里坦热液场（SHF）是位于冰岛北部埃亚菲亚德拉冰盖湾的一个海底系统，由两个主要喷口组成：大斯特里坦和阿尔纳内斯斯特里坦。这些喷口较浅，水深在16至70米之间，喷出高pH值（高达10.2）、中等温度（T ∼70°C）、缺氧的新鲜流体，其中溶解硅含量升高，氢气和甲烷浓度略有升高。与其他碱性热液喷口不同，SHF很独特，因为它位于玄武岩中，因此高pH值不是由蛇纹石化作用产生的。虽然之前的研究已经评估了该地点的地质和地球化学，但SHF的微生物多样性尚未得到详细探索。在这里，我们使用16S rRNA基因扩增子测序，对来自大斯特里坦和阿尔纳内斯斯特里坦的活跃喷流流体和烟囱进行了微生物多样性调查。喷流流体中的群落成员大多是需氧异养细菌；然而，在烟囱内可以区分出有氧、低氧和缺氧栖息地，在这些栖息地中观察到了可能具有产乙酸、硫循环和氢代谢能力的分类群。在样本中观察到的古菌很少。SHF的生物群落与陆地温泉样本比其他海洋地点的更相似。据推测，地球上（以及太阳系其他地方）的生命可能起源于碱性热液系统，然而，迄今为止所有其他研究过的碱性海底热液系统都是由蛇纹石化作用提供能量的。SHF增加了我们对热液喷口与微生物多样性、进化以及可能的生命起源之间关系的理解。
