DNA from low-biodiversity fracture water collected at 2.8-kilometer depth in a South African gold mine was sequenced and assembled into a single, complete genome. This bacterium, Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator, composes >99.9% of the microorganisms inhabiting the fluid phase of this particular fracture. Its genome indicates a motile, sporulating, sulfate-reducing, chemoautotrophic thermophile that can fix its own nitrogen and carbon by using machinery shared with archaea. Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator is capable of an independent life-style well suited to long-term isolation from the photosphere deep within Earth's crust and offers an example of a natural ecosystem that appears to have its biological component entirely encoded within a single genome.
CITATION STYLE
Chivian, D., Brodie, E. L., Alm, E. J., Culley, D. E., Dehal, P. S., DeSantis, T. Z., … Onstott, T. C. (2008). Environmental genomics reveals a single-species ecosystem deep within earth. Science, 322(5899), 275–278. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155495
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.