PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Daniel A. Gittins
AU  - Pierre-Arnaud Desiage
AU  - Natasha Morrison
AU  - Jayne E. Rattray
AU  - Srijak Bhatnagar
AU  - Anirban Chakraborty
AU  - Jackie Zorz
AU  - Carmen Li
AU  - Oliver Horanszky
AU  - Margaret A. Cramm
AU  - Jamie Webb
AU  - Adam MacDonald
AU  - Martin Fowler
AU  - D. Calvin Campbell
AU  - Casey R. J. Hubert
TI  - Geological processes mediate a subsurface microbial loop in the deep biosphere
AID  - 10.1101/2021.10.26.465990
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.10.26.465990
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/26/2021.10.26.465990.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/26/2021.10.26.465990.full
AB  - The deep biosphere is the largest microbial habitat on Earth and features abundant bacterial endospores1,2. Whereas dormancy and survival at theoretical energy minima are hallmarks of subsurface microbial populations3, the roles of fundamental ecological processes like dispersal and selection in these environments are poorly understood4. Here we combine geophysics, geochemistry, microbiology and genomics to investigate biogeography in the subsurface, focusing on bacterial endospores in a deep-sea setting characterized by thermogenic hydrocarbon seepage. Thermophilic endospores in permanently cold seabed sediments above petroleum seep conduits were correlated with the presence of hydrocarbons, revealing geofluid-facilitated cell migration pathways originating in deep oil reservoirs. Genomes of thermophilic bacteria highlight adaptations to life in anoxic petroleum systems and reveal that these dormant populations are closely related to oil reservoir microbiomes from around the world. After transport out of the subsurface and into the deep-sea, thermophilic endospores re-enter the geosphere by sedimentation. Viable thermophilic endospores spanning the top several metres of the seabed correspond with total endospore counts that are similar to or exceed the global average. Burial of dormant cells enables their environmental selection in sedimentary formations where new petroleum systems establish, completing a geological microbial loop that circulates living biomass in and out of the deep biosphere.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.