Biological Alteration of Basaltic Glass With Altered Composition and Oxidation States

The ocean crust is an extreme and oligotrophic environment and yet recent studies have shown that reactions between oceanic crust and seawater are capable of supporting microbial life. We are specifically targeting volcanic glass as a source of energy and nutrients necessary to support endolithic microbial communities. A significant amount of chemical energy is available from the process of iron oxidation and our goal is to determine the ability of microorganisms to use Fe(II) as an energy source as well as liberate other essential nutrients from the host rock. In addition, microbes may oxidize Mn or use phosphate from glass. To explore the dependency of microbial life on these nutrients and energy sources, we produce basaltic glasses with varying Fe oxidation states and relative abundance of iron, manganese and phosphate and introduce them to microbial isolates and consortia both in the laboratory and in deep-ocean environments. The natural exposure experiments occur in a variety of settings including hydrothermal vents and cold deep seawater (Loihi Seamount), brines (Mediterranean), and basaltic flows at spreading ridges (EPR), when possible on submarine lava flows of recent and known age. Upon collection of the exposure experiments, we compare basalt colonizing microbial communities on our synthetic glasses with the in situ glass communities through a large culturing effort and molecular (t-RFLP) studies. So far we have produced a number of enrichment cultures and isolated several iron-oxidizing and manganese-oxidizing bacteria that were used to inoculate glasses in the laboratory. Laboratory experiments concentrate on biofilm formation and dissolution of the colonized glasses. Continued collection of exposure experiments on a yearly time-scale provides valuable information regarding spatial and temporal variations in microbial community diversity and structure. We have also analyzed the authigenic reaction products of seafloor, microbially mediated alteration of glass, and compared these results to the types of enrichment cultures found and the composition and oxidation state of the synthetic and natural glasses. We will present preliminary results on culturing, molecular structure and experimental approach in exposure experiments and glass preparation.