Teske Lab Research

The general research challenge for the Teske Lab is to link microbial identity and function, and to understand microbial ecosystem diversity function in correlation with in-situ biogeochemical regimes and processes. The Teske Lab is focusing on microbial community composition and function in extreme marine habitats, using nucleic-acid based approaches. The vast majority of prokaryotic phylogenetic lineages has not been cultured yet, and are accessible only with gene-based methods. The occurrence patterns of uncultured microbial groups are correlated with geochemical and physical characteristics of their habitats, as a first step to infer their

physiological preferences and environmental controls. Further, identification of functional genes allows conclusions about the metabolism of extremophilic microbial communities.

• Microbial communities of deep-sea hydrothermal vents

The study the microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents one of the most extreme microbial habitats on earth is another component of the Teske Lab. A black smoker hydrothermal vent at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise (2600 m depth; see figure 3.1) emits hydro-thermal vent fluid of ca. 300 – 350 °C. The walls of the chimney structure, deposited from metal sulfides dissolved in the vent fluid, are inhabited by extremely thermophilic and metal-resistant microorganisms.

• Microbiology of Anaerobic Methane Oxidation (Teske and Martens labs)

The microbiology of anaerobic methane oxidation in hydrothermal and cold marine sediments constitutes a shared interest of the Teske and Martens labs, and has led to collaborative ties and joint proposals. A focus site of the Teske lab is the Guaymas Basin, a sedimented hydrothermal vent site in the Gulf of California. Here, thermal degradation of sedimentary organic matter produces thermogenic methane that supports anaerobic methane-oxidizing communities. The first occurrence of anaerobic methane oxidation in hydrothermal environments was found by the Teske group at Guaymas. A newly-submitted NSF proposal (Teske, Martens, Albert & MacGregor) focuses on a joint geochemical and microbiological analysis of this vent system. Graduate students Karen Lloyd (Teske lab) and Laura Lapham (Martens lab) are working on a combined geochemical and biological analysis of a methane-rich sediment community in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Community Analyses of Deep-Subsurface Sediments

The sediment cover of the ocean bottom is usually several 100 meters thick and permeated by microbial life top to bottom. This is perhaps the most extensive and least explored microbial habitat on Earth. The structure and metabolic activities of these deep subsurface communities are a current research challenge. The Teske Lab is analyzing the microbial community composition in a range of geochemically divergent subsurface sediments (Nankai Trough; Peru Margin and Equatorial Pacific; Juan de Fuca Ridge flank). This project involved two recent postdocs (Ketil Sørensen and Antje Lauer), and graduate students Mark Lever and Karen Lloyd. Deep subsurface projects also include a recently-submitted joint NSF proposal with the Noble lab that aims at the detection and DNA/RNA analysis of subsurface viruses.

Since 2000, the Teske lab has been working with the Ocean Drilling Program and its successor, the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). On recent ODP and IODP cruises targeting the deep subsurface biosphere, members of the Teske lab sailed on JOIDES Resolution (Figures 3.3a and 3.3b), the deep-sea drilling vessel for retrieving otherwise inaccessible deep subsurface samples. Much of this work is carried out with colleagues at the Univ. Rhode Island and with the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA).