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- Hinrichs Lab - CellSurf
Hinrichs Lab - CellSurf
CellSurf: Cell wall components, membrane lipids, and microbial communities in the deep subsurface at Canterbury Basin and Peru Margin (ODP Leg 201 and IODP Expedition 317)
| Duration: | July 2009 - June 2011 |
| Funding: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Schwerpunktprogramm 527 "Integrated Ocean Drilling Program/Ocean Drilling Program (IODP/ODP)" (Project HI 616/11-1) |
| Principal Investigator(s): | Kai-Uwe Hinrichs |
| Involved scientists in the Hinrichs Lab: | Julius Lipp, Rong Zhu |
| Partners: | Dr. Naohiko Ohkouchi (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Japan), Dr. Axel Schippers (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover), Prof. Dr. Andreas Teske (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA) |
Abstract
In this project, we target both membrane lipids and the bacterial cell wall polymer muramin in order to evaluate the relative importance of archaea and bacteria in the marine deep biosphere and to constrain the geologic fate of these two major pools of microbial biomass. We test new analytical protocols for the analysis of cell wall polymers on some well-characterized sediment horizons from ODP Site 1229 with some of the highest cell concentrations ever observed in deeply buried marine sediments. Moreover, we investigate sediments from the Canterbury Basin where drillling during IODP Exp. 317 has provided a unique opportunity to (a) study microbial communities in up to 1.7 km deep subseafloor sediments and (b) evaluate the influence of largely terrestrially derived organic matter on the size, composition, and carbon metabolism of the subsurface biosphere.
In this project, we target both membrane lipids and the bacterial cell wall polymer muramin in order to evaluate the relative importance of archaea and bacteria in the marine deep biosphere and to constrain the geologic fate of these two major pools of microbial biomass. We test new analytical protocols for the analysis of cell wall polymers on some well-characterized sediment horizons from ODP Site 1229 with some of the highest cell concentrations ever observed in deeply buried marine sediments. Moreover, we investigate sediments from the Canterbury Basin where drillling during IODP Exp. 317 has provided a unique opportunity to (a) study microbial communities in up to 1.7 km deep subseafloor sediments and (b) evaluate the influence of largely terrestrially derived organic matter on the size, composition, and carbon metabolism of the subsurface biosphere.