Previous Article | Next Article 
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2001, p. 5750-5760, Vol. 67, No. 12
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.21.5750-5760.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Archaeal Diversity in Waters from Deep South
African Gold Mines
Ken
Takai,1,2,
Duane P.
Moser,3
Mary
DeFlaun,4
Tullis C.
Onstott,3 and
James K.
Fredrickson1,*
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland, Washington 993521; Subground
Animalculae Retrieval (SUGAR) Project, Frontier Research Program for
Deep-Sea Environments, Japan Marine Science and Technology Center,
Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan2; Department of
Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
085443; and Envirogen Inc.,
Lawrenceville, New Jersey 086484
Received 12 June 2001/Accepted 10 September 2001
A culture-independent molecular analysis of archaeal communities in
waters collected from deep South African gold mines was performed by
performing a PCR-mediated terminal restriction fragment length
polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of rRNA genes (rDNA) in conjunction with
a sequencing analysis of archaeal rDNA clone libraries. The water
samples used represented various environments, including deep fissure
water, mine service water, and water from an overlying dolomite
aquifer. T-RFLP analysis revealed that the ribotype distribution of
archaea varied with the source of water. The archaeal communities in
the deep gold mine environments exhibited great phylogenetic diversity;
the majority of the members were most closely related to uncultivated
species. Some archaeal rDNA clones obtained from mine service water and
dolomite aquifer water samples were most closely related to
environmental rDNA clones from surface soil (soil clones) and marine
environments (marine group I [MGI]). Other clones exhibited
intermediate phylogenetic affiliation between soil clones and MGI in
the Crenarchaeota. Fissure water samples, derived from
active or dormant geothermal environments, yielded archaeal sequences
that exhibited novel phylogeny, including a novel lineage of
Euryarchaeota. These results suggest that deep South
African gold mines harbor novel archaeal communities distinct from
those observed in other environments. Based on the phylogenetic
analysis of archaeal strains and rDNA clones, including the newly
discovered archaeal rDNA clones, the evolutionary relationship and the
phylogenetic organization of the domain Archaea are reevaluated.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: MS P7-50, P.O.
999, Richland, WA 99352. Phone: (509) 376-7063. Fax: (509) 376-9650. E-mail: jim.fredrickson{at}pnl.gov.

Present address: Deep-Sea Microorganisms Research Group
(DEEP-STAR), Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC),
Yokosuka 237-0061,
Japan.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2001, p. 5750-5760, Vol. 67, No. 12
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.21.5750-5760.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Weidler, G. W., Gerbl, F. W., Stan-Lotter, H.
(2008). Crenarchaeota and Their Role in the Nitrogen Cycle in a Subsurface Radioactive Thermal Spring in the Austrian Central Alps. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
74: 5934-5942
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Hansel, C. M., Fendorf, S., Jardine, P. M., Francis, C. A.
(2008). Changes in Bacterial and Archaeal Community Structure and Functional Diversity along a Geochemically Variable Soil Profile. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
74: 1620-1633
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Spear, J. R., Barton, H. A., Robertson, C. E., Francis, C. A., Pace, N. R.
(2007). Microbial Community Biofabrics in a Geothermal Mine Adit. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
73: 6172-6180
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Weidler, G. W., Dornmayr-Pfaffenhuemer, M., Gerbl, F. W., Heinen, W., Stan-Lotter, H.
(2007). Communities of Archaea and Bacteria in a Subsurface Radioactive Thermal Spring in the Austrian Central Alps, and Evidence of Ammonia-Oxidizing Crenarchaeota. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
73: 259-270
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Lloyd, K. G., Lapham, L., Teske, A.
(2006). An Anaerobic Methane-Oxidizing Community of ANME-1b Archaea in Hypersaline Gulf of Mexico Sediments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
72: 7218-7230
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Lin, L.-H., Wang, P.-L., Rumble, D., Lippmann-Pipke, J., Boice, E., Pratt, L. M., Lollar, B. S., Brodie, E. L., Hazen, T. C., Andersen, G. L., DeSantis, T. Z., Moser, D. P., Kershaw, D., Onstott, T. C.
(2006). Long-term sustainability of a high-energy, low-diversity crustal biome.. Science
314: 479-482
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Sorensen, K. B., Teske, A.
(2006). Stratified communities of active archaea in deep marine subsurface sediments.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
72: 4596-4603
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Auchtung, T. A., Takacs-Vesbach, C. D., Cavanaugh, C. M.
(2006). 16S rRNA Phylogenetic Investigation of the Candidate Division "Korarchaeota".. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
72: 5077-5082
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Inagaki, F., Nunoura, T., Nakagawa, S., Teske, A., Lever, M., Lauer, A., Suzuki, M., Takai, K., Delwiche, M., Colwell, F. S., Nealson, K. H., Horikoshi, K., D'Hondt, S., Jorgensen, B. B.
(2006). Biogeographical distribution and diversity of microbes in methane hydrate-bearing deep marine sediments on the Pacific Ocean Margin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
103: 2815-2820
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Moser, D. P., Gihring, T. M., Brockman, F. J., Fredrickson, J. K., Balkwill, D. L., Dollhopf, M. E., Lollar, B. S., Pratt, L. M., Boice, E., Southam, G., Wanger, G., Baker, B. J., Pfiffner, S. M., Lin, L.-H., Onstott, T. C.
(2005). Desulfotomaculum and Methanobacterium spp. Dominate a 4- to 5-Kilometer-Deep Fault. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 8773-8783
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Dhillon, A., Lever, M., Lloyd, K. G., Albert, D. B., Sogin, M. L., Teske, A.
(2005). Methanogen Diversity Evidenced by Molecular Characterization of Methyl Coenzyme M Reductase A (mcrA) Genes in Hydrothermal Sediments of the Guaymas Basin. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 4592-4601
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Yu, C.-P., Ahuja, R., Sayler, G., Chu, K.-H.
(2005). Quantitative Molecular Assay for Fingerprinting Microbial Communities of Wastewater and Estrogen-Degrading Consortia. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 1433-1444
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Gilbert, P. U. P. A., Abrecht, M., Frazer, B. H.
(2005). The Organic-Mineral Interface in Biominerals. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry
59: 157-185
[Full Text]
-
Pearson, A., Huang, Z., Ingalls, A. E., Romanek, C. S., Wiegel, J., Freeman, K. H., Smittenberg, R. H., Zhang, C. L.
(2004). Nonmarine Crenarchaeol in Nevada Hot Springs. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70: 5229-5237
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Holben, W. E., Feris, K. P., Kettunen, A., Apajalahti, J. H. A.
(2004). GC Fractionation Enhances Microbial Community Diversity Assessment and Detection of Minority Populations of Bacteria by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70: 2263-2270
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Takai, K., Oida, H., Suzuki, Y., Hirayama, H., Nakagawa, S., Nunoura, T., Inagaki, F., Nealson, K. H., Horikoshi, K.
(2004). Spatial Distribution of Marine Crenarchaeota Group I in the Vicinity of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Systems. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70: 2404-2413
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Sliwinski, M. K., Goodman, R. M.
(2004). Spatial Heterogeneity of Crenarchaeal Assemblages within Mesophilic Soil Ecosystems as Revealed by PCR-Single-Stranded Conformation Polymorphism Profiling. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70: 1811-1820
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Inagaki, F., Suzuki, M., Takai, K., Oida, H., Sakamoto, T., Aoki, K., Nealson, K. H., Horikoshi, K.
(2003). Microbial Communities Associated with Geological Horizons in Coastal Subseafloor Sediments from the Sea of Okhotsk. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
69: 7224-7235
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Hugenholtz, P., Huber, T.
(2003). Chimeric 16S rDNA sequences of diverse origin are accumulating in the public databases. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.
53: 289-293
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Reed, D. W., Fujita, Y., Delwiche, M. E., Blackwelder, D. B., Sheridan, P. P., Uchida, T., Colwell, F. S.
(2002). Microbial Communities from Methane Hydrate-Bearing Deep Marine Sediments in a Forearc Basin. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
68: 3759-3770
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Takai, K., Hirayama, H., Sakihama, Y., Inagaki, F., Yamato, Y., Horikoshi, K.
(2002). Isolation and Metabolic Characteristics of Previously Uncultured Members of the Order Aquificales in a Subsurface Gold Mine. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
68: 3046-3054
[Abstract]
[Full Text]