Microbial communities and metabolic functions vary with spatial heterogeneity in cold-seep carbonates

Ma, Manman, Wang, Minxiao, Liang, Yue, Guo, Yang, Zhang, Huan, Cao, Lei, Fu, Lulu, Hu, Gaowei, Li, Chengfeng, Mock, Thomas and Li, Chaolun (2025) Microbial communities and metabolic functions vary with spatial heterogeneity in cold-seep carbonates. ISME Communications, 5 (1). ISSN 2730-6151

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Abstract

Cold-seep carbonates, formed through interactions among methane, fluid chemistry, and microbial chemosynthesis, represent biodiversity hotspots in the deep sea. Spatial heterogeneity within these carbonates arises from variations in methane flux, yet the microbial contributions to this heterogeneity remain underexplored. Here we combined remotely operated vehicle-based in situ measurements, X-ray imaging, metagenomics, qPCR, and 13C-CH4 stable-isotope labeling to investigate microbial communities across carbonate habitats in the South China Sea. We found that methane flux linked to carbonate structural properties, shapes microbial metabolic interactions, notably anaerobic methane oxidation coupled with aragonite and FeS precipitation. These processes may contribute to self-sealing carbonate features, potentially reducing methane permeability and influencing geochemical gradients and geomorphology. Our findings reveal that microbiomes and their feedbacks play a significant role in shaping habitat-scale spatial heterogeneity of cold-seep carbonates, improving our understanding of methane cycling and carbonate ecosystem dynamics.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: The raw metagenomic sequencing data generated in this study have been deposited in the NCBI BioProject database under accession number PRJNA1061233 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1061233).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anaerobic oxidation of methane,biogeochemical cycles,carbonates,cold seep,metagenomics,microbial communities,microbiology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2400/2404
Faculty \ School:	University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Wolfson Centre for Advanced Environmental Microbiology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2026 14:30
Last Modified:	30 Mar 2026 14:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102645
DOI:	10.1093/ismeco/ycaf232

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