Vast metabolic and phylogenetic diversity shared across deep subsurface environments

Amano, Yuki   ; Diamond, S.*; Lavy, A.*; Anantharaman, K.*; Miyakawa, Kazuya   ; Iwatsuki, Teruki  ; Beppu, Hikari*; Suzuki, Yohei*; Thomas, B. C.*; Banfield, J. F.*

We investigated the microbiology two Japanese subsurface research sites and compared the major groups of organisms lacking cultivated representatives found from other subsurface sites, including a Colorado aquifer and deep aquifers underlying the Crystal Geyser. We analyzed metagenomic data 19 samples from the Horonobe site and 7 from the Mizunami site. DNA sequences from each sample were assembled independently and scaffolds encoding the ribosomal protein S3 sequence were identified. The major characteristic of the microbiology of the Mizumani site that distinguished it from the Horonobe site is local very high abundances of Nitrospirae, Parcubacteria, Ignavibacteria, ANME-2D and Micrarchaeota. In contrast, the Horonobe site has locations that are highly enriched in Altarchiales, Syntrophobacteriales, Atribacteria, ANME-2D and Methanogens. Beyond reshaping the Tree of Life, the societal importance of these discoveries remains little known. However, given the huge inventory of new groups of proteins and pathways in the genomes of these organisms, it is reasonable to anticipate major discoveries will hold relevance, for example, in terms of pharmaceutical discovery. Given the importance of the subsurface as a potential host environment for storage of nuclear waste, finding some commonality would indicate the general relevance of information from one site for prediction of the characteristics of other sites.