The active Venere Mud Volcano offshore Italy currently exudes mud breccia flows from its</p><p>summit and hosts fresh, alkaline, deep-sourced fluids rich in Li and B and depleted in K that</p><p>advect into shallow sediments, providing a window into the deep biosphere. Thaumarchaeota</p><p>and Proteobacteria dominate nearly all communities at the summit and nearby flows. Archaeal</p><p>communities remain consistent across the flow, suggesting they may be endemic to the deep</p><p>subsurface. Three sediment microbial communities from deep-sourced fluids along a transect</p><p>from the summit are identified for proposed metagenomic sequencing. Metabolic gene content</p><p>will be compared between sites to determine the influence of deep fluids on community</p><p>structure and potential function. High abundances of genes involved in anaerobic methane</p><p>oxidation and sulfate reduction, ammonium oxidation, and K transport and osmoprotectant</p><p>synthesis are anticipated. PI, Scott Klasek Oregon State University. See also PRJNA531342.
