Potential for hydrogen-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophic and diazotrophic populations to initiate biofilm formation in oligotrophic, deep terrestrial subsurface waters.

Background: Deep terrestrial biosphere waters are separated from the light-driven surface by the time required to percolate to the subsurface. Despite biofilms being the dominant form of microbial life in many natural environments, they have received little attention in the oligotrophic and anaerobic waters found in deep bedrock fractures. This study is the first to use community DNA sequencing to describe biofilm formation under in situ conditions in the deep terrestrial biosphere.

Complete Genome Sequence of the Subsurface, Mesophilic Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio aespoeensis Aspo-2.

Desulfovibrio aespoeensis Aspo-2, DSM 10631(T), is a mesophilic, hydrogenotrophic sulfate-reducing bacterium sampled from a 600-m-deep subsurface aquifer in hard rock under the island of Äspö in southeastern Sweden. We report the genome sequence of this bacterium, which is a 3,629,109-bp chromosome; plasmids were not found.