First description of archaeal communities in carbonate-rich seafloor and subseafloor sediments from the Southwestern Atlantic slope

Abstract

Deep-sea sediments comprise one of the largest habitats on Earth. The archaeal groups contribute to a large fraction of the deep-sea benthic biomass, playing a key role in biogeochemical cycles. However, their diversity in deep-sea benthic ecosystems remains poorly understood, mostly because only recently novel taxa have been proposed, thus remodeling the phylogenetic tree. Despite the dificulty in obtaining cultivated representatives, the metabolic capabilities of archaea have lately been described through metagenomic data, indicating that archaeal taxa are highly versatile. Here, we aimed to reveal the diversity of archaeal communities in surface (0 to 15 cm depth) and subsurface (200 cm depth) sediments from a carbonate-rich region in the Southwestern Atlantic upper slope. We performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and found that the archaeal composition in surface sediments was mainly dominated by ammonia-oxidizing archaea within Nitrososphaeria class. The distribution of Nitrososphaeria ASVs (amplicon sequence variants) indicates the presence of several species or ecotypes. Contrastingly, the subsurface sediment was dominated by uncultivated anaerobic and poorly known archaea, including representatives of all supergroups (Asgard, TACK, DPANN and Euryarchaeota). These archaea have been described as having potentially diverse metabolic capabilities, including autotrophic and heterotrophic pathways, such as acetogenesis, methylotrophy, and degradation of labile and recalcitrant organic compounds. This indicates an important role in the remineralization of organic matter in the SW (Southwest) Atlantic slope. They are likely enriched due to the transport and mixing of sediments by the IWBC (Intermediate Western Boundary Current) along the continental slope. However, further studies are needed to reveal the geochemical and oceanographic drivers of the archaeal distribution. This study provides the first description of the archaeal communities in carbonate-rich sediments in the SW Atlantic slope, and adds new biodiversity insights to this geological feature, which is considered a vulnerable marine ecosystem, thus helping for future conservation strategies.