地殼下三千米即所謂的地表下巖石圈，這些厚重巖石的溫度超過了40攝氏度。這里的水分由于缺乏氧氣而能夠使大多數(shù)人們熟悉的生物窒息,，但是名為生物膜的一些細菌和其他微生物卻能夠在這里茁壯成長。如今,，科學(xué)家在這個地獄般的環(huán)境中首次發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種貪婪的捕食者——被研究人員描述為地表深處的首個多細胞生物的一種線蟲,。
他們將這種生活在地下深處并耐熱的物種命名為Halicephalobus mephisto（如上圖）。這一名稱借鑒了浮士德筆下的魔鬼Mephistopheles,，意思是“不喜歡陽光的人”,。
這些線蟲身長最多約半毫米，以細菌為食,，通過單性生殖方式不經(jīng)交配來繁殖,，能忍受生活環(huán)境（南非Beatrix金礦中三千米深的地方）中的高溫。類似的生物預(yù)計也可能會出現(xiàn)在某些海床下的環(huán)境中,。
多細胞生物在如此惡劣環(huán)境中的生存能力對于研究宇宙生物學(xué)也有參考價值,。
研究人員在6月2日出版的《自然》雜志上報告了這一研究成果。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature DOI:10.1038/nature09974
Nematoda from the terrestrial deep subsurface of South Africa
G. Borgonie; A. García-Moyano; D. Litthauer; W. Bert; A. Bester; E. van Heerden; C. M?ller; M. Erasmus; T. C. Onstott
Since its discovery over two decades ago, the deep subsurface biosphere has been considered to be the realm of single-cell organisms, extending over three kilometres into the Earth’s crust and comprising a significant fraction of the global biosphere1, 2, 3, 4. The constraints of temperature, energy, dioxygen and space seemed to preclude the possibility of more-complex, multicellular organisms from surviving at these depths. Here we report species of the phylum Nematoda that have been detected in or recovered from 0.9–3.6-kilometre-deep fracture water in the deep mines of South Africa but have not been detected in the mining water. These subsurface nematodes, including a new species, Halicephalobus mephisto, tolerate high temperature, reproduce asexually and preferentially feed upon subsurface bacteria. Carbon-14 data indicate that the fracture water in which the nematodes reside is 3,000–12,000-year-old palaeometeoric water. Our data suggest that nematodes should be found in other deep hypoxic settings where temperature permits, and that they may control the microbial population density by grazing on fracture surface biofilm patches. Our results expand the known metazoan biosphere and demonstrate that deep ecosystems are more complex than previously accepted. The discovery of multicellular life in the deep subsurface of the Earth also has important implications for the search for subsurface life on other planets in our Solar System.
