Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40461733›Full record

ArticleMicrobial ecology2025

The Deep Subsurface Biosphere and its Substrates Along a One-Million-Year Ferruginous Lake Archive.

Fátima Ruiz-Blas, André Friese, Alexander Bartholomäus, Cynthia Henny, James M Russell, Jens Kallmeyer, Aurèle Vuillemin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microbial ecology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Fátima Ruiz-BlasSection Geomicrobiology, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany.
André FrieseSection Geomicrobiology, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany.
Alexander BartholomäusSection Geomicrobiology, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany.
Cynthia HennyResearch Center for Limnology and Water Resources, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Republic of Indonesia, Cibinong, 16911, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.
James M RussellDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, 324 Brook Street, Providence, RI, USA.
Jens KallmeyerSection Geomicrobiology, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany.
Aurèle VuilleminSection Geomicrobiology, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany. aurele.vuillemin@gfz.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7724-8931

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft KA 2293/8-1Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft VU 94/1-1Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung P2GEP2_148621
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Lake Towuti, Indonesia, is an ancient stratified lake with ferruginous (iron-rich, sulfate-poor) anoxic bottom water conditions and a long depositional record affected by redox changes in the water column and sediments. As modern analogue of Earth's early ferruginous oceans, it enables the study of an active microbial subsurface biosphere and its role in organic matter and iron mineralization. Combining 16S rRNA genes, cell counts, pore water geochemistry, and bulk sediment profiles from a 100-m-long core, we present the first comprehensive characterization of the deep subsurface biosphere along a one-million-year lacustrine archive. Electron acceptors in the pore water became depleted at shallow depths, resulting in a drastic decrease in cell densities in the fermentative zone, where Bathyarchaeia dominate the microbial community composition. Although alpha and beta diversity reflected initial depletion of substrates during burial, they also varied across successive lithologies, indicating that sediment composition subsequent to deposition also affects diversity. The upper sediments (0-20 mblf) sheltered a dense and diverse microbial community involved in organic matter remineralization, actively producing and converting volatile fatty acids into carbon dioxide and methane. Deeper sediments (20-70 mblf) contained low-diversity microbial communities adapted to nutrient scarcity. In contrast, deepest lacustrine sediments (70-100 mblf) contained an increased microbial diversity reflecting greater availability of organic matter of terrestrial origin. Despite Bathyarchaeia being prime constituents of the deep subsurface biosphere, increased diversity in 16S rRNA gene composition was observed in discrete sediment layers (tephra, diatom ooze, peat). This demonstrated that depositional conditions remained traceable, while stratified microbial communities drove reductive diagenesis.

Indexed as

ArchaeaBacteriaGeologic SedimentsLakesBiodiversityIndonesiaIronPhylogenyRNA, Ribosomal, 16SIronRNA, Ribosomal, 16SBathyarchaeiaDeep biosphereFerruginous Lake TowutiOrganic matter remineralizationPore water geochemistryVolatile fatty acids

Identifiers

PMID40461733
PMCPMC12134053

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.