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Microbial diversity and methanogenic potential in a high temperature natural gas field in Japan

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An Erratum to this article was published on 24 May 2008

Abstract

Microbial diversity and methanogenic potential in formation water samples from a dissolved-in-water type gas field were investigated by using 16S rRNA gene libraries and culture-based methods. Two formation water samples (of 46 and 53°C in temperature) were obtained from a depth of 700 to 800 m. Coenzyme F420-autofluorescence indicated that 103–104 cells per ml of active methanogens were present, accounting for at least 10% of the total cell count. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the diversity of Archaea and Bacteria of the two samples was quite limited; i.e., the archaeal libraries were dominated by the sequences related to Methanobacterium formicicum and Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus, and the bacterial libraries were dominated by the sequences related to Hydrogenophilus and Deferribacter. Of the methanogenic substrates tested using the formation water-based medium, only H2–CO2 gave rise to methane formation. Those dominant archaeal and bacterial genera have the potential to use hydrogen for growth at the in situ temperatures, suggesting that the formation water of the Pliocene strata in the gas field has been provided with hydrogen, probably from underneath the strata, and thus on-going active methanogenesis has been occurring to date.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Yutaka Yamada of the Japan Energy Development Co. Ltd for contributing the samples and for information about gas wells. We are also grateful to Shuichi Tokuhashi of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology for helpful comments about the geological structure of the natural gas field in Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Hanako Mochimaru & Hiroo Uchiyama

  2. Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan

    Hanako Mochimaru, Hideyuki Tamaki, Kohei Nakamura, Yuji Sekiguchi & Yoichi Kamagata

  3. Research Institute of Genome-Based Biofactory, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Sapporo, Hokkaido, 062-8517, Japan

    Yoichi Kamagata

  4. Institute for Geo-resources and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan

    Hideyoshi Yoshioka, Nobuyuki Kaneko & Susumu Sakata

  5. Subground Animalcule Retrieval (SUGAR) Program, Extremobiosphere Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 237-0061, Japan

    Hiroyuki Imachi

Authors
  1. Hanako Mochimaru
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  2. Hideyoshi Yoshioka
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  9. Hiroo Uchiyama
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  10. Yoichi Kamagata
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoichi Kamagata.

Additional information

Communicated by K. Horikoshi.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0169-3

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Mochimaru, H., Yoshioka, H., Tamaki, H. et al. Microbial diversity and methanogenic potential in a high temperature natural gas field in Japan. Extremophiles 11, 453–461 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0056-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0056-8

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