Microbiology: Archaea in the ocean

The archaea, a group of primitive unicellular organisms, thrive in extreme environments, from hotsprings to deep in the Earth's crust. It now seems that they are also well-represented in the world's biggest habitat -- the deep ocean. Karner et al. used genetic probes to identify two groups of archaea in samples taken from the ocean near Hawaii to depths of 4,750 m. Archaea make up a significant fraction of the 'picoplankton' in the dark water below 150 m, and below 1,000 m they equal bacteria in numbers. Most of these microorganisms also seemed to be metabolically active, indicating that they are making their living in these environments, and not just visiting.

Archaeal dominance in the mesopelagic zone of the Pacific Ocean
MARKUS B. KARNER, EDWARD F. DELONG, DAVID M. KARL
Nature 409, 507-510 (25 January 2001)
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25 January 2001 table of contents