Most of the Earth's microbial biomass is hidden in the subsurface. According to estimates, microorganisms can be found at depth of up to five kilometers below the continental surface. Here they also colonize solid rock. Since this deep biosphere is difficult to access, researchers know little about the composition and role of these microorganisms in biogeochemical cycles.
A research team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and its Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse as well as other research networks and institutes have now discovered that limestone serves as an archive for microbial colonization of the subsurface.
"We have also been able to detect genetic information from past microbial communities—so-called paleomes—in three rock samples. These give us information about which metabolic performances played a role when thesewere still alive," says Prof. Dr. Kirsten Küsel, spokesperson of the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence, and initiator of the study.
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