title: Assessing sub-seafloor microbial activity by combined stable isotope probing with deuterated water and 13C-bicarbonate.
abstract: Sub-seafloor sediments are populated by large numbers of microbial cells but not much is known about their metabolic activities, growth rates and carbon assimilation pathways. Here we introduce a new method enabling the sensitive detection of microbial lipid production and the distinction of auto- and heterotrophic carbon assimilation. Application of this approach to anoxic sediments from a Swedish fjord allowed to compare the activity of different functional groups, the growth and turnover times of the bacterial and archaeal communities. The assay involves dual stable isotope probing (SIP) with deuterated water (D(2) O) and (13) C(DIC)  (dissolved inorganic carbon). Culture experiments confirmed that the D content in newly synthesized lipids is in equilibrium with the D content in labelled water, independent of whether the culture grew hetero- or autotrophically. The ratio of (13) C(DIC)  to D(2) O incorporation enables distinction between these two carbon pathways in studies of microbial cultures and in environmental communities. Furthermore, D(2) O-SIP is sufficiently sensitive to detect the formation of few hundred cells per day in a gram of sediment. In anoxic sediments from a Swedish fjord, we found that > 99% of newly formed lipids were attributed to predominantly heterotrophic bacteria. The production rate of bacterial lipids was highest in the top 5 cm and decreased 60-fold below this depth while the production rate of archaeal lipids was rather low throughout the top meter of seabed. The contrasting patterns in the rates of archaeal and bacterial lipid formation indicate that the factors controlling the presence of these two lipid groups must differ fundamentally.
authors.affiliation: HGF-MPG Group for Deep Sea Ecology and Technology, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, Bremerhaven, Germany. gwegener@mpi-bremen.de
authors.forename: Gunter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wegener
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bausch
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Holler
authors.forename: Nguyen Manh
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Thang
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Prieto Mollar
authors.forename: Matthias Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kellermann
authors.forename: Kai-Uwe
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boetius
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000737:chemistry; D003903:Deuterium / Q000737:chemistry*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D059013:Microbial Consortia; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D001639:Bicarbonates; D003903:Deuterium