Spatial variations of microbial communities in abyssal and hadal sediments across the Challenger Deep

Abstract

Microbial communities in hadal sediments are least explored in hadal zone (>6,000 m), especially in the Challenger Deep with high pressure (∼110 M pa at the bottom). In this study, we investigated the microbial communities in the sediments of the slope and trench-axis bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Classification of the reads of the 16S rRNA gene amplicons showed vertical distribution of prokaryotic microbial inhabitants from the surface to up to 60 centimeter below surface floor (cmbsf). The most dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes and candidate phyla Patescibacteria and Marinimicrobia. Distinct dominant groups in the microbial communities were observed in trench-axis sediment (water depth >8,600 m), compared to the slopes of the Challenger Deep. A sampling site at the northern slope was enriched with archaea from mesophilic Euryarchaeota Marine Group II (MGII) as a biomarker of specific geochemical setting. Among archaeal community, Thaumarchaeota represented by Nitrosopumilus were dominant in the upper layers and diminished drastically in the deeper layers. “Ca. Woesearchaeota”, however, became the dominant group in the deeper layers. Overall, our study provides a better understanding on the pattern of the microbial communities in the deepest hadal sediments on Earth, and highlights the extraordinary diversity still waiting to be discovered.