title: Metagenome and Metatranscriptome Revealed a Highly Active and Intensive Sulfur Cycle in an Oil-Immersed Hydrothermal Chimney in Guaymas Basin.
abstract: The hydrothermal vent system is a typical chemosynthetic ecosystem in which microorganisms play essential roles in the geobiochemical cycling. Although it has been well-recognized that the inorganic sulfur compounds are abundant and actively converted through chemosynthetic pathways, the sulfur budget in a hydrothermal vent is poorly characterized due to the complexity of microbial sulfur cycling resulting from the numerous parties involved in the processes. In this study, we performed an integrated metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis on a chimney sample from Guaymas Basin to achieve a comprehensive study of each sulfur metabolic pathway and its hosting microorganisms and constructed the microbial sulfur cycle that occurs in the site. Our results clearly illustrated the stratified sulfur oxidation and sulfate reduction at the chimney wall. Besides, sulfur metabolizing is closely interacting with carbon cycles, especially the hydrocarbon degradation process in Guaymas Basin. This work supports that the internal sulfur cycling is intensive and the net sulfur budget is low in the hydrothermal ecosystem.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China ; State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China ; State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China ; Institute of Oceanology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China ; State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China ; Institute of Oceanology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiao
keywords: carbon cycle; hydrothermal vent; metagenomics; metatranscriptomics; sulfur cycle