Taking a look at the ecology of the underground biosphere, Canadian team discovers travel cycle of “thermophilic bacteria”… – TechNews Technology News

How to get a glimpse of the ecology of seabed microorganisms? A Canadian scientific team has launched a series of deep biosphere studies to gain insight into thermophilic, oil-eating bacteria living thousands of meters deep.

Thermophilic bacteria are a type of microorganism that can survive at high temperatures, and will become inactive in colder environments. Activity of thermophilic bacteria on the seabed may indicate that there are oil reserves beneath.

Essentially 45 percent of microbes live in hot rocks underground, feeding on hydrocarbons and other chemical energy. Casey Hubert, a professor of microbiology at the University of Calgary in Canada, said that the “deep biosphere” can be called the largest biological habitat on Earth, but we know very little about it. After all, we can’t track wild animals like brown bears. Help microbes wear tracking collars, just like animals.

So the team used acoustic surveys and genetic analysis to understand how bacteria behave in the subterranean biosphere. The researchers first lowered a sonar-equipped autonomous sub to the deep-oil southwestern Nova Scotia seafloor and measured 14 locations. But dig up the clay spoons.,

Usually thermophilic bacteria turn into inactive spores when exposed to cold, so to identify thermophilic spores in the samples, the researchers heated them to 80 °C in the laboratory. Although this kills most organisms, the heat wakes up the spores and causes them to clump together, which is why some spores can remain active in harsh environments for thousands or even millions of years, Hubert said.

When researchers sequenced the DNA of parts of the bacteria and looked at drill samples from around the world, they found essentially the same type. Juan Hofer of Valparaíso University in Chile thinks it’s pretty compelling evidence that these bacteria seep oil from deep in the Earth and move it around the ocean floor, a process that can take decades to hundreds of years.

And the journey of the bacteria doesn’t end there. Hubert said that ocean currents can transport dormant bacteria to other places, some will move nearby, and some will appear thousands of kilometers away. As for the spores that fall asleep on the ocean floor, they will be buried in various sediments. Even hotter depths within millions of years.

If they’re lucky enough to land on an oil deposit, the dormant spores can reactivate, Hubert notes, after all, the hardiest, most resilient form of life known to the thermophile team.

(Source of first image: Pixabay)