IRONGEOBIOVENT

Iron geobiology at deep-ocean hydrothermal vents

Coordinatore	INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE RECHERCHE POUR L'EXPLOITATION DE LA MER    more  Organization address address: 155 rue Jean Jacques Rousseau city: ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX postcode: 92138 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Philippe Cognome: Moal Email: send email Telefono: +33 298224223 Fax: +33 298224570
Nazionalità Coordinatore	France [FR]
Totale costo	170˙466 €
EC contributo	170˙466 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF
Funding Scheme	MC-IEF
Anno di inizio	2009
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2009-09-14   -   2011-11-25

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE RECHERCHE POUR L'EXPLOITATION DE LA MER  Organization address address: 155 rue Jean Jacques Rousseau city: ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX postcode: 92138 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Philippe Cognome: Moal Email: send email Telefono: +33 298224223 Fax: +33 298224570	FR (ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX)	coordinator	0.00

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Rimicaris exoculata is a caridean shrimp that lives in the deep ocean around active high-temperature hydrothermal sites. This chemosynthetic vent species maintains dominant populations at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is highly adapted to life in this extreme environment. Feeding mechanism include grazing on sulfides from hydrothermal chimneys and living in symbiosis with bacteria that are cultivated inside their respiratory and digestive systems. The energy sources for these symbioses generally rely on the bacterial oxidation of hydrogen sulfide or methane emitted at vent sites. However, the recent discovery of iron oxide minerals within the gill chamber of shrimps collected from the ‘Rainbow’ vent site suggests that iron-oxidizing symbionts, as well as sulphide-oxidising symbionts, could be involved in the metabolism of vent communities. Our first objective will be to better understand the mechanism by which shrimps gain their energy. Cycling of redox-sensitive elements, such as Fe, by biological process has been the rule on Earth for at least several billion years. Over the last decade, the measurement of Fe isotopes has become an emerging technique for understanding biogeochemical cycles. Experiments investigating metabolic processing of Fe have shown that measurable Fe isotope fractionations are produced during bacterial Fe3 reduction, as well as anaerobic photosynthetic Fe2 oxidation. Iron isotopes represent therefore a potentially exciting tool to investigate the complex interplay between microbial activity, biogeochemical processes and Fe redox cycling at hydrothermal vent sites. Our second objective will be to provide a fuller understanding of the microbial pathways for iron in hydrothermal systems. This will be achieved by systematically measuring the Fe isotopic composition of the iron oxide mineralization found within R. Exoculata, as well as a few selected samples of hydrothermal fluids and black smoker sulfides.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

In the ocean depths where no sunlight for photosynthesis can penetrate, marine life exploits hydrothermal vents as a source of energy. An EU-funded initiative investigated precisely how this is achieved.