Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

F. Inagaki; K.-U. Hinrichs; Y. Kubo; M. W. Bowles; V. B. Heuer; W.-L. Hong; T. Hoshino; A. Ijiri; H. Imachi; M. Ito; M. Kaneko; M. A. Lever; Y.-S. Lin; B. A. Methé; S. Morita; Y. Morono; W. Tanikawa; M. Bihan; S. A. Bowden; M. Elvert; C. Glombitza; D. Gross; G. J. Harrington; T. Hori; K. Li; D. Limmer; C.-H. Liu; M. Murayama; N. Ohkouchi; S. Ono; Y.-S. Park; S. C. Phillips; X. Prieto-Mollar; M. Purkey; N. Riedinger; Y. Sanada; J. Sauvage; G. Snyder; R. Susilawati; Y. Takano; E. Tasumi; T. Terada; H. Tomaru; E. Trembath-Reichert; D. T. Wang; Y. Yamada

doi:10.1126/science.aaa6882

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Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

F. Inagaki¹,²,*,
K.-U. Hinrichs³,*,
Y. Kubo⁴,⁵,
M. W. Bowles³,
V. B. Heuer³,
W.-L. Hong⁶,†,
T. Hoshino¹,²,
A. Ijiri¹,²,
H. Imachi²,⁷,
M. Ito¹,²,
M. Kaneko²,⁸,
M. A. Lever⁹,‡,
Y.-S. Lin³,§,
B. A. Methé¹⁰,
S. Morita¹¹,
Y. Morono¹,²,
W. Tanikawa¹,²,
M. Bihan¹⁰,
S. A. Bowden¹²,
M. Elvert³,
C. Glombitza⁹,
D. Gross¹³,
G. J. Harrington¹⁴,
T. Hori¹⁵,
K. Li¹⁰,
D. Limmer¹²,||,
C.-H. Liu¹⁶,
M. Murayama¹⁷,
N. Ohkouchi²,⁸,
S. Ono¹⁸,
Y.-S. Park¹⁹,¶,
S. C. Phillips²⁰,
X. Prieto-Mollar³,
M. Purkey²¹,#,
N. Riedinger²²,**,
Y. Sanada⁴,⁵,
J. Sauvage²³,
G. Snyder²⁴,††,
R. Susilawati²⁵,
Y. Takano²,⁸,
E. Tasumi⁷,
T. Terada²⁶,
H. Tomaru²⁷,
E. Trembath-Reichert²⁸,
D. T. Wang¹⁸,
Y. Yamada⁵,²⁹

¹Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.
²Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.
³MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
⁴Center for Deep-Earth Exploration, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0061, Japan.
⁵Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
⁶College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
⁷Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.
⁸Department of Biogeochemistry, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.
⁹Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
¹⁰Department of Environmental Genomics, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
¹¹Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan.
¹²Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB2A 3UE, UK.
¹³Department of Applied Geosciences and Geophysics, Montanuniversität, 8700 Leoben, Austria.
¹⁴School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
¹⁵Environmental Management Research Institute, AIST, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan.
¹⁶The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China.
¹⁷Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.
¹⁸Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹⁹Petroleum and Marine Resources Research Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-350, Korea.
²⁰Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
²¹Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
²²Department of Earth Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
²³Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA.
²⁴Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
²⁵School of Earth Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane Queensland 4072, Australia.
²⁶Marine Works Japan, Yokosuka 237-0063, Japan.
²⁷Department of Earth Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
²⁸Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
²⁹Department of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan.

↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: inagaki{at}jamstec.go.jp (F.I.); khinrichs{at}uni-bremen.de (K.-U.H.)

↵† Present address: CAGE - Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate, Department of Geology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
↵‡ Present address: Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
↵§ Present address: Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
↵|| Present address: Adrok, Edinburgh, Scotland EH6 5NX, UK.
↵¶ Deceased.
↵# Present address: Noble Energy, 1625 Broadway, Suite 2200, Denver, CO 80202, USA.
↵** Present address: Boone Pickens School of Geology, 105 Noble Research Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-3031, USA.
↵†† Present address: Gas Hydrate Research Laboratory, Meiji University, Tokyo 101-8301, Japan.

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Science 24 Jul 2015:
Vol. 349, Issue 6246, pp. 420-424
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa6882

F. Inagaki

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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For correspondence: inagaki@jamstec.go.jp khinrichs@uni-bremen.de

K.-U. Hinrichs

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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For correspondence: inagaki@jamstec.go.jp khinrichs@uni-bremen.de

Y. Kubo

4Center for Deep-Earth Exploration, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0061, Japan.

5Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.

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M. W. Bowles

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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V. B. Heuer

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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W.-L. Hong

6College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.

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T. Hoshino

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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A. Ijiri

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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H. Imachi

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

7Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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M. Ito

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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M. Kaneko

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

8Department of Biogeochemistry, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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M. A. Lever

9Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

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Y.-S. Lin

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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B. A. Methé

10Department of Environmental Genomics, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.

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S. Morita

11Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan.

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Y. Morono

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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W. Tanikawa

1Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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M. Bihan

10Department of Environmental Genomics, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.

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S. A. Bowden

12Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB2A 3UE, UK.

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M. Elvert

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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C. Glombitza

9Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

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D. Gross

13Department of Applied Geosciences and Geophysics, Montanuniversität, 8700 Leoben, Austria.

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G. J. Harrington

14School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

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T. Hori

15Environmental Management Research Institute, AIST, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan.

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K. Li

10Department of Environmental Genomics, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.

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D. Limmer

12Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB2A 3UE, UK.

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C.-H. Liu

16The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China.

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M. Murayama

17Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.

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N. Ohkouchi

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

8Department of Biogeochemistry, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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S. Ono

18Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

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Y.-S. Park

19Petroleum and Marine Resources Research Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-350, Korea.

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S. C. Phillips

20Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.

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X. Prieto-Mollar

3MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.

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M. Purkey

21Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.

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N. Riedinger

22Department of Earth Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.

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Y. Sanada

4Center for Deep-Earth Exploration, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0061, Japan.

5Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.

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J. Sauvage

23Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA.

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G. Snyder

24Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.

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R. Susilawati

25School of Earth Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane Queensland 4072, Australia.

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Y. Takano

2Research and Development Center for Marine Resources, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

8Department of Biogeochemistry, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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E. Tasumi

7Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan.

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T. Terada

26Marine Works Japan, Yokosuka 237-0063, Japan.

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H. Tomaru

27Department of Earth Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.

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E. Trembath-Reichert

28Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

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D. T. Wang

18Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

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Y. Yamada

5Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.

29Department of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan.

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Coal beds more than 2 kilometers below the seafloor host methanogenic bacteria related to those found in forest soils. [Also see Perspective by Huber]

Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

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