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This study demonstrates that hyperthermophilic microbial communities from deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimneys can grow electrolithoautotrophically using a polarized cathode as sole electron donor and CO₂ as carbon source. Archaeoglobales species dominated the biofilms and directly consumed electrons, while heterotrophic Thermococcales and other taxa grew through trophic interactions. The work provides evidence that abiotic electric potentials across conductive chimney walls could support initial microbial colonization in these extreme environments.

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Abstract

Abstract Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are extreme and complex ecosystems based on a trophic chain. We are still unsure of the identities of the first colonizers of these environments and their metabolism, but they are thought to be (hyper)thermophilic autotrophs. Here we investigate whether the electric potential observed across hydrothermal chimneys could serve as an energy source for these first colonizers. Experiments were performed in a two-chamber microbial electrochemical system inoculated with deep-sea hydrothermal chimney samples, with a cathode as sole electron donor, CO 2 as sole carbon source, and nitrate, sulfate, or oxygen as electron acceptors. After a few days of culture, all three experiments showed growth of electrotrophic biofilms consuming the electrons (directly or indirectly) and producing organic compounds including acetate, glycerol, and pyruvate. Within the biofilms, the only known autotroph species retrieved were members of Archaeoglobales . Various heterotrophic phyla also grew through trophic interactions, with Thermococcales growing in all three experiments as well as other bacterial groups specific to each electron acceptor. This electrotrophic metabolism as energy source driving initial microbial colonization of conductive hydrothermal chimneys is discussed.

Keywords

AutotrophHydrothermal ventChimney (locomotive)HeterotrophHydrothermal circulationChemosynthesis

Identifiers

DOI
10.1101/2020.11.11.377697
Journal
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Year
2020