About the Authors

Stephen M. Techtmann

stephen.techtmann@gmail.com

Affiliations Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

Julian L. Fortney

Affiliations Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

Kati A. Ayers

Affiliations Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

Dominique C. Joyner

Affiliations Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

Thomas D. Linley

Affiliation Ocean Lab, University of Aberdeen, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom

Susan M. Pfiffner

Affiliations Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

Terry C. Hazen

Affiliations Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States of America

Competing Interests

This research was supported by contract A13-0119-001 Deep Sea Basin Microbiology between the University of Tennessee and BP America. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SMT JLF SMP TCH. Performed the experiments: SMT JLF KAA TDL DCJ. Analyzed the data: SMT KAA SMP. Wrote the paper: SMT.