The Project

Uncultivated microorganisms dominate our planet, including the fascinating and inaccessible deep-sea hydrothermal systems. DeepSeaQuence explores the biodiversity in one of the least investigated marine habitats on Earth, the unique deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems along the Arctic mid-Ocean Ridge (AMOR). The impact of biodiscoveries from deep sea hydrothermal vents are undisputed. Enzymes from deep-sea hydrothermal vents are commonly used in basic research and diagnostic testing, such as Covid-19.

Hydrothermal vent sites at AMOR that will be explored in the DeepSeaQuence project.

 

The project include integrated studies combining geochemistry, genome-centric metagenomics with metatranscriptomics and high-resolution microscopy, addressing the following aims:

  1. Infer potential functions of uncultured novel hydrothermal vent microbial lineages.
  2. Identify microbial metabolic interdependencies and co-operations.
  3. In silico and activity screening of potential bioactive compounds (i.e antimicrobial peptides and biosynthetic gene clusters).
  4. Create a metagenomics knowledge base for the education of a new generation of scientists in exploration and conservation of deep-sea microbiomes.