Defining biogeographic provinces to understand the history and evolution of communities associated with a given kind of ecosystem is challenging and usually requires a priori assumptions to be made. We applied network theory, a holistic and exploratory method, to the most complete database of faunal distribution available on oceanic hydrothermal vents, environments which support fragmented and ...

Hydrothermal vents represent a unique habitat in the marine ecosystem characterized with high water temperature and toxic acidic chemistry. Vents are distributed at depths ranging from a few meters to several thousand meters. The biological communities of shallow-water vents have, however, been insufficiently studied in most biogeographic areas. We attempted to characterize the macrofauna and m...

An efficient asymmetric synthesis of cyclo-archaeol and β-glucosyl cyclo-archaeol is presented employing catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition and catalytic epoxide ring opening as the key steps. Their occurrence in deep sea hydrothermal vents has been confirmed by chromatographic comparison with natural samples.

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps are submarine springs where nutrient-rich fluids emanate from the sea floor. Vent and seep ecosystems occur in a variety of geological settings throughout the global ocean and support food webs based on chemoautotrophic primary production. Most vent and seep invertebrates arrive at suitable habitats as larvae dispersed by deep-ocean currents. The recen...

Microbial productivity at hydrothermal vents is among the highest found anywhere in the deep ocean, but constraints on microbial growth and metabolism at vents are lacking. We used a combination of cultivation, molecular, and geochemical tools to verify pure culture H(2) threshold measurements for hyperthermophilic methanogenesis in low-temperature hydrothermal fluids from Axial Volcano and End...

Thermococcus thioreducens DSM 14981T, a sulfur-reducing archaeon, was isolated from the rainbow hydrothermal vent site on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Herein, we report the draft genome sequence of T. thioreducens DSM 14981T; we obtained 41 contigs with a genome size of 2,052,483bp and G+C content of 53.5%. This genome sequence will not only help understand how the archaeon adapts to the deep-sea hy...

We report the genome sequence of Thermococcus sp. EXT12c isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent at the East Pacific Rise 9°N. Microbes in the genus Thermococcus are able to grow anaerobically at high temperature, around neutral pH, and some of them under high hydrostatic pressure.

[1] A total of 232 samples were analyzed for concentrations of dissolved aluminum ([Al]) and manganese ([Mn]) in Drake Passage. Both [Al] and [Mn] were extremely low ( 0.3 and 0.1 nM, respectively) in the surface layer of the middle Drake Passage, most likely due to limited input and biological uptake/scavenging. Elevated [Al] (>14 nM) and [Mn] (>2 nM) over the South American continental shelf ...

Of the 20 amino acids used in proteins, 10 were formed in Miller's atmospheric discharge experiments. The two other major proposed sources of prebiotic amino acid synthesis include formation in hydrothermal vents and delivery to Earth via meteorites. We combine observational and experimental data of amino acid frequencies formed by these diverse mechanisms and show that, regardless of the sourc...

Filamentous bacteria, identified as members of the genus Beggiatoa by gliding motility and internal globules of elemental sulfur, occur in massive aggregations at the deep-sea hydrothermal vents of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California. Cell aggregates covering the surface of sulfide-emanating sediments and rock chimneys were collected by DS R/V Alvin and subjected to shipboard and laboratory e...