Hydrothermally generated aromatic compounds are consumed by bacteria colonizing in Atlantis II Deep of the Red Sea.

Hydrothermal ecosystems have a wide distribution on Earth and many can be found in the basin of the Red Sea. Production of aromatic compounds occurs in a temperature window of ∼60-150 °C by utilizing organic debris. In the past 50 years, the temperature of the Atlantis II Deep brine pool in the Red Sea has increased from 56 to 68 °C, whereas the temperature at the nearby Discovery Deep brine pool has remained relatively stable at about 44 °C.

Vertical stratification of microbial communities in the Red Sea revealed by 16S rDNA pyrosequencing.

The ecosystems of the Red Sea are among the least-explored microbial habitats in the marine environment. In this study, we investigated the microbial communities in the water column overlying the Atlantis II Deep and Discovery Deep in the Red Sea. Taxonomic classification of pyrosequencing reads of the 16S rRNA gene amplicons showed vertical stratification of microbial diversity from the surface water to 1500 m below the surface.