Nature: Recycling and metabolic flexibility dictate life in the lower oceanic crust

Jiangtao Li^1,2,9, Paraskevi Mara^2,9, Florence Schubotz^3,4, Jason B. Sylvan⁵, Gaëtan Burgaud⁶, Frieder Klein⁷, David Beaudoin², Shu Ying Wee⁵, Henry J. B. Dick², Sarah Lott², Rebecca Cox², Lara A. E. Meyer^3,4, Maxence Quémener⁶, Donna K. Blackman⁸ & Virginia P. Edgcomb^2,9 *

1 State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

2 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.

3 MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.

4 Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.

5 Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.

6 Université de Brest, EA 3882, Laboratoire Universitaire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Microbienne, ESIAB, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané, France.

7 Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.

8 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

9 These authors contributed equally: Jiangtao Li, Paraskevi Mara, Virginia P. Edgcomb.

Abstract

The lithified lower oceanic crust is one of Earth’s last biological frontiers as it is difficult to access. It is challenging for microbiota that live in marine subsurface sediments or igneous basement to obtain sufficient carbon resources and energy to support growth^{https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2075-5}