Abstract
Many people are interested in marine extreme environments, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and sub-vent regions, in order to discover new biological phenomena and economically invaluable bio/gene resources. However, the difficulty in approaching and collecting samples from such extreme environments has prevented further progress in bio-science and bio-technology. Taking advantage of an opportunity of drilling in the vicinity of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Archaean Park Project, we started to develop some new instruments and methods such as large-scale in situ filtration systems for aseptic drilling and advanced genomic research, and catheter-and column-type in situ growth chambers for finding new sub-vent microbes and genes. As a result, we managed to concentrate microbes from more than 200 liters of hydrothermal fluid and found several new gene sequences in DNA samples purified from the concentrates. Invaluable sub-vent microbial samples were also successfully collected with the in situ growth chambers from the inside of warm to extremely hot boreholes. To date, we have found several new phylotypes of microbes and very unique distribution patterns of those in the sub-vent. Further innovation in sampling and analysis may also provide a means of elucidating mutual relationships between geological and microbiological processes, as well as leading to further findings of novel microbes and genes.
