Deep Sea Diving with Bacteria

By: Victoria Ramirez

Did you ever think there was a difference between the microbes that accumulate in the ocean? There actually is a significant difference in bacterial communities at different points in the ocean. A study was performed to determine bacterial diversity and community composition from seasurface to subseafloor. The seasurface (approximately 1.1 meters below seafloor) and the subseafloor (approximately 1.5 meters below seafloor) were tested in three different Pacific areas. The samples were taken from the water column, the sediment-water interface, and subseafloor sediment. All samples were sequenced for DNA, which was done through pyrosequencing. Overall, the bacterial productivity was found to be higher in the water column than the sediments. The discovery of the bacterial productivity should be further studied to test how these bacteria are affected by or how they affect humans.

 

The three locations in the Pacific where the samples for bacterial communities were gathered.

 

 

 

Original Article: Walsh E.A., Kirkpatrick J.B., Rutherford S.D., Smith D.C., Mitchell S., D’Hondt S. (2015). Bacterial diversity and community composition from seasurface to subseafloor. The ISME Journal, doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.175