Inter-Research
Aquatic Microbial Ecology

ABSTRACT: Thermophilic bacterial activity was detected in a deep-sea sediment sample from the South Pacific Ocean at 12° S, 135° W, an area of the seafloor distant from known hydrothermal venting. Incubation of sediments amended with ¹⁴C-glutamate indicated maximal respiration (evolution of ¹⁴CO₂) and assimilation (incorporation of ¹⁴C into acid-precipitated macromolecules) of substrate at 52°C, relative to 4 and 22°C. A parallel experiment at another site (2° S, 140° W) yielded no evidence of thermophily. Thermophilic bacteria may be deposited in deep-sea sediments following their long-distance dispersal from hydrothermal vents (e.g. the East Pacific Rise and other sites), via either continuous venting or formation of megaplumes.

KEY WORDS: Deep sea · Thermophilic bacteria · Hydrothermal venting · Dispersal

Published in AME Vol. 13, No. 2 (1997) on August 21
Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1997