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A submarine volcanic eruption leads to a novel microbial habitat

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 22 May 2017

Abstract

Submarine volcanic eruptions are major catastrophic events that allow investigation of the colonization mechanisms of newly formed seabed. We explored the seafloor after the eruption of the Tagoro submarine volcano off El Hierro Island, Canary Archipelago. Near the summit of the volcanic cone, at about 130 m depth, we found massive mats of long, white filaments that we named Venus’s hair. Microscopic and molecular analyses revealed that these filaments are made of bacterial trichomes enveloped within a sheath and colonized by epibiotic bacteria. Metagenomic analyses of the filaments identified a new genus and species of the order Thiotrichales, Thiolava veneris. Venus’s hair shows an unprecedented array of metabolic pathways, spanning from the exploitation of organic and inorganic carbon released by volcanic degassing to the uptake of sulfur and nitrogen compounds. This unique metabolic plasticity provides key competitive advantages for the colonization of the new habitat created by the submarine eruption. A specialized and highly diverse food web thrives on the complex three-dimensional habitat formed by these microorganisms, providing evidence that Venus’s hair can drive the restart of biological systems after submarine volcanic eruptions.

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Figure 1: Macroscopic and microscopic view of the Venus’s hair.
Figure 2: Phylogenomic analyses on genome bins reconstructed from the Venus’s hair metagenome.
Figure 3: Metabolic potential of Thiolava veneris.
Figure 4: Output of prokaryotic 16S rDNA sequencing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out within the frame of the project MIDAS (GA n. 603418, EU FPVII) for which the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) and Instituto Español de Oceanogafía (IEO) provided ship time and the ROV. Technical staff were provided by IEO and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Unidad de Tecnología Marina. Generalitat de Catalunya supported Grup de Recerca Consolidat (GRC) en Geociències Marines through grant 2014 SGR 1068. We thank the crew and officers of the RV Ángeles Alvariño for their help during the cruise. A.S.-V. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract from MINECO. R.D. was supported by the project MERCES (Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas, EU2020, grant agreement no. 689518). D.A. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 658358.

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Contributions

R.D. and M.C. conceived the study. M.C., G.L. and A.M.C. led the research cruise where the Venus’s hair mats were found, and mapped and sampled them. J.R. played a pivotal role in the ROV operations. M.T., D.A., J.F., R.P.-P. and X.R. performed the fieldwork. A.S.-V. performed the substrate rock analyses. M.T., A.D.A. and C.C. carried out the bioinformatic analyses. C.G. performed the extraction and classification of the meiofaunal organisms. C.C., A.D.A. and M.T. conducted the laboratory analyses. R.D., M.C., C.C., A.D.A., C.G. and M.T. wrote the manuscript. G.L., A.S.-V and A.M.C. critically read and contributed to the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Danovaro.

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Supplementary Tables 1–4, Supplementary Figures 1–6. (PDF 2349 kb)

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Danovaro, R., Canals, M., Tangherlini, M. et al. A submarine volcanic eruption leads to a novel microbial habitat. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0144 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0144

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