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The geological, biological and geochemical features of a particular field of hydrothermal vents, discovered in the Panarea Volcanic Complex during a research survey carried out in 2015, are described for the first time. The site, located at 70–80 m depth off the South-western coast of the islet of Basiluzzo, was named Smoking Land for the presence of a large number of wide and high active chimneys and was characterized in terms of dissolved benthic fluxes, associated macrofauna and megafauna communities and preliminary mineralogy and geochemistry of chimney structures. On the whole field, a total of 39 chimneys, different in size and shape, were closely observed and described; 14 of them showed emission of low temperature hydrothermal fluids of marine origin characterized by acidified chemical conditions. The CTD and benthic chamber measurements highlighted that the Smoking Land is able to form a sea water bottom layer characterized by variable acidity and high DIC and trace elements concentrations; these characteristics weaken moving away from the chimney mouths. The SEM-EDS analysis of the collected solid samples revealed a chimney structure principally composed by amorphous and low crystalline Fe-oxyhydroxides of hydrothermal origins. The ROV explorations revealed a wide coverage of red algae (Peyssonnelia spp.) colonized by the green algae Flabiella petiolata and by suspension feeders, mainly sponges, but also bryozoans, and tubicolous polychaetes. Although novent-exclusive species were identified, the benthic communities found in association to the chimneys included more taxa than those observed in the surrounding no-vent rocky areas. These first findings evidence a submarine dynamic habitat where geological, chemical and biological processes are intimately connected, making the Smoking Land an important site in terms of marine heritage that should be safeguarded and protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesophilic Crenarchaeota have recently been thought to be significant contributors to nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycling. In this study, we examined the vertical distribution of ammonia-oxidizing Crenarchaeota at offshore site in Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The median value of the crenachaeal cell to amoA gene ratio was close to one suggesting that virtually all deep-sea Crenarchaeota possess the capacity to oxidize ammonia. Crenarchaea-specific genes, nirK and ureC, for nitrite reductase and urease were identified and their affiliation demonstrated the presence of 'deep-sea' clades distinct from 'shallow' representatives. Measured deep-sea dark CO2 fixation estimates were comparable to the median value of photosynthetic biomass production calculated for this area of Tyrrhenian Sea, pointing to the significance of this process in the C cycle of aphotic marine ecosystems. To elucidate the pivotal organisms in this process, we targeted known marine crenarchaeal autotrophy-related genes, coding for acetyl-CoA carboxylase (accA) and 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase (4-hbd). As in case of nirK and ureC, these genes are grouped with deep-sea sequences being distantly related to those retrieved from the epipelagic zone. To pair the molecular data with specific functional attributes we performed [14C]HCO3 incorporation experiments followed by analyses of radiolabeled proteins using shotgun proteomics approach. More than 100 oligopeptides were attributed to 40 marine crenarchaeal-specific proteins that are involved in 10 different metabolic processes, including autotrophy. Obtained results provided a clear proof of chemolithoautotrophic physiology of bathypelagic crenarchaeota and indicated that this numerically predominant group of microorganisms facilitate a hitherto unrecognized sink for inorganic C of a global importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The autotrophic and ammonia-oxidizing crenarchaeal assemblage at offshore site located in the deep Mediterranean (Tyrrhenian Sea, depth 3000m) water was studied by PCR amplification of the key functional genes involved in energy (ammonia mono-oxygenase alpha subunit, amoA) and central metabolism (acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha subunit, accA). Using two recently annotated genomes of marine crenarchaeons, an initial set of primers targeting archaeal accA-like genes was designed. Approximately 300 clones were analyzed, of which 100% of amoA library and almost 70% of accA library were unambiguously related to the corresponding genes from marine Crenarchaeota. Even though the acetyl-CoA carboxylase is phylogenetically not well conserved and the remaining clones were affiliated to various bacterial acetyl-CoA/propionyl-CoA carboxylase genes, the pool of archaeal sequences was applied for development of quantitative PCR analysis of accA-like distribution using TaqMan® methodolgy. The archaeal accA gene fragments, together with alignable gene fragments from the Sargasso Sea and North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (ALOHA Station) metagenome databases, were analyzed by multiple sequence alignment. Two accA-like sequences, found in ALOHA Station at the depth of 4000m, formed a deeply branched clade with 64% of all archaeal Tyrrhenian clones. No close relatives for residual 36% of clones, except of those recovered from Eastern Mediterranean, was found, suggesting the existence of a specific lineage of the crenarchaeal accA genes in deep Mediterranean water. Alignment of Mediterranean amoA sequences defined four cosmopolitan phylotypes of Crenarchaeota putative ammonia mono-oxygenase subunit A gene occurring in the water sample from the 3000m depth. Without exception all phylotypes fell into Deep Marine Group I cluster that contain the vast majority of known sequences recovered from global deep-sea environment. Remarkably, three phylotypes accounted for 91% of all Mediterranean amoA clones and corresponded to the sequences retrieved from the less deep compartments of the world''s ocean, most likely reflecting the higher temperature at the depth of the Mediterranean Sea. In order to verify whether these phylotypes might represent important Crenarchaeota in the functioning of the Mediterranean bathypelagic ecosystem, expression of crenarchaeal amoA gene was monitored by direct RNA retrieval and following analysis of amoA-related mRNA transcripts. Surprisingly, all mRNA-derived sequences formed a tight monophyletic group, which fell into large Shallow Marine Group I cluster with sequences retrieved from shallow (up to 200m) waters, sediments and corals. This group was not detected in DNA-based clone library, obviously, due to an overwhelming dominance of the Deep Marine Group I. The failure to recover the amoA transcripts, related to Deep Marine Group I of Crenarchaeota, was unanticipated and likely resulted from the physiology of these strongly adapted deep-sea organisms. As far as all seawater samples were treated on-board under atmospheric pressure conditions and sunlight, the decompression and/or photoinhibition likely affected their metabolic activity, followed by the strong decay of gene expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two samples of the same bathypelagic bacterioplankton community (Tyrrhenian Sea at the depth of 3000m) were collected during single cast by both traditional sampling with Niskin bottle and using a high pressure-maintaining HPSS sampler. Total RNA was isolated, reverse transcribed, amplified with Archaea-specific primers and cloned. Riboclones were sequenced, 117 riboclones from decompressed library and 104 rRNA-based riboclones retrieved from HPSS sampler. Both RNA libraries were additionally compared with 115 riboclones based on DNA obtained from the decompressed sample (16S rRNA genes). In terms of repetitive riboclones, obtained in all three libraries, the bathypelagic community was dominated by Crenarchaeota Marine Group I (52–64%). The combined analysis led to a characterization of sampling-specific phylotypes otherwise uncharacterized if only one type of library had been analyzed alone. Of the DNA riboclones, 22% were found only in this library and no close relatives of Euryarchaeota Marine Group II were detected in both RNA-based libraries, suggesting the dormant state of these organisms in deep-sea environment. For clones from the RNA libraries, one Crenarchaeota MG I phylotype did not indicate close relatives in the DNA library. In general, among 10 archaeal phylotypes recovered in total, 8, 7 and 6 of them were faced in DNA, RNA_HPSS and RNA decompressed libraries, respectively. Based on comparisons between all three libraries, our data indicate that (i) the short-term decompression of seawater samples during cast recovery and following treatments caused only slight changes in the total rRNA diversity and (ii) rRNA-based analysis is likely affected the characterization of phylotypes, present in deep-sea environment as the dormant cells, detected only on the DNA level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study is focused on the development of a cultivation-independent molecular approach for specific detection of bioluminescent bacteria within microbial communities by direct amplification of luxA gene from environmental DNA. A new set of primers, specifically targeting free-living bioluminescent bacteria, was designed on the base of luxA sequences available from the public database. Meso- and bathypelagic seawater samples were collected from two stations in Tyrrhenian Sea at the depths of 500 and 2750m. The same seawater samples also were used to isolate bioluminescent bacteria that were further subjected to luxA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. PCR products obtained by amplification with designed primers were cloned, and the phylogenetic affiliation of 40 clones was determined. All of them were clustered into three groups, only distantly related to the Photobacterium phosphoreum and Photobacterium kishitanii clades. The half of all clones formed a tight monophyletic clade, while the rest of clones were organized in “compartment”-specific, meso- and bathypelagic ecotypes. No matches with luxA gene sequences of four bioluminescent strains, isolated from the same seawater samples, were observed. These findings indicate that the PCR-based approach developed in present manuscript, allowed us to detect the novel, “yet to be cultivated” lineages of bioluminescent bacteria, which are likely specific for distinct warm bathypelagic realms of Mediterranean Sea. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]