ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2019
An Ionic Limit to Life in the Deep Subsurface.
Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Metagenomic analysis of the biofilm community at the oxic-anoxic interface of a deep-underground saline spring at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Predicting microbial activity potential in salt caverns based on brine chaotropicity analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Multi-Regional Study on the Microbial Community Structure, Core Microbiome and Functional Characteristics in Deep Fracture Waters.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- The Design of a Bioinspired Integrated Total Habitability Instrument for Planetary Exploration: A Review of Potential Sensing Technologies.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The effects of brines relevant to Mars and the ocean worlds on bacterial growth reflect salt-specific responses across water activity.Archives of microbiology · 2025Article
- Where the microbes aren't.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Life in the brine of Lunenburg, Germany: unveiling microorganisms associated with Zechstein salt deposits.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Hydrochemical gradients driving extremophile distribution in saline and brine groundwater of southern Poland.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Autonomous Planetary Liquid Sampler (APLS) forSensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Microbial induced wettability alteration with implications for Underground Hydrogen Storage.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Selective trace elements significantly enhanced methane production in coal bed methane systems by stimulating microbial activity.Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Radioactive waste microbiology: predicting microbial survival and activity in changing extreme environments.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Radiolytic support for oxidative metabolism in an ancient subsurface brine system.ISME communications · 2024Article
- Single-cell analysis in hypersaline brines predicts a water-activity limit of microbial anabolic activity.Science advances · 2023Article
- Clearing the air: unraveling past and guiding future research in atmospheric chemosynthesis.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2023Review
- Bridging Place-Based Astrobiology Education with Genomics, Including Descriptions of Three Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from Mars Analog Sites of Cultural Relevance.Astrobiology · 2023Article
- Radiolytically reworked Archean organic matter in a habitable deep ancient high-temperature brine.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Sub-Liquid and Atmospheric Measurement Instrument To Autonomously Monitor the Biochemistry of Natural Aquatic Ecosystems.ACS ES&T water · 2023Article
- Advances in Defining Ecosystem Functions of the Terrestrial Subsurface Biosphere.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- Metagenomic Investigation of a Low Diversity, High Salinity Offshore Oil Reservoir.Microorganisms · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The physical and chemical factors that can limit or prevent microbial growth in the deep subsurface are not well defined. Brines from an evaporite sequence were sampled in the Boulby Mine, United Kingdom between 800 and 1300 m depth. Ionic, hydrogen and oxygen isotopic composition were used to identify two brine sources, an aquifer situated in strata overlying the mine, and another ambiguous source distinct from the regional groundwater. The ability of the brines to support microbial replication was tested with culturing experiments using a diversity of inocula. The examined brines were found to be permissive for growth, except one. Testing this brine's physicochemical properties showed it to have low water activity and to be chaotropic, which we attribute to the high concentration of magnesium and chloride ions. Metagenomic sequencing of the brines that supported growth showed their microbial communities to be similar to each other and comparable to those found in other hypersaline environments. These data show that solutions high in dissolved ions can shape the microbial diversity of the continental deep subsurface biosphere. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, complex brines can establish a hard limit to microbial replication in the deep biosphere, highlighting the potential for subsurface uninhabitable aqueous environments at depths far shallower than a geothermally-defined limit to life.
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