A possible unique ecosystem in the endoglacial hypersaline brines in Antarctica

Abstract

Here, we present the results related to a new unique terrestrial ecosystem found in an englacial hypersaline brine found in Northern Victoria Land (Antarctica). Both the geochemistry and microbial (prokaryotic and fungal) diversity revealed an unicity with respect to all the other known Antarctic brines and suggested a probable ancient origin mainly due a progressive cryoconcentration of seawater. The prokaryotic community presented some peculiarities, such as the occurrence of sequences of Patescibacteria (which can thrive in nutrient-limited water environments) or few Spirochaeta, and the presence of archaeal sequences of Methanomicrobia closely related to Methanoculleus, a methanogen commonly detected in marine and estuarine environments. The high percentage (35%) of unassigned fungal taxa suggested the presence of a high degree of undiscovered diversity within a structured fungal community (including both yeast and filamentous life forms) and reinforce the hypothesis of a high degree of biological uniqueness of the habitat under study.

Study of the Bacterial, Fungal, and Archaeal Communities Structures near the Bulgarian Antarctic Research Base “St. Kliment Ohridski” on Livingston Island, Antarctica

“…Flavobacterium is more prevalent in the water column of shallower Antarctic lakes, correlating with its high presence in the sediment, and similar mixing could occur with the other genera [57]. Members of the genus Luteolibacter have been isolated from Arctic soils and Antarctic hypersaline brines, which could point to the more significant terrestrial influence at the littoral zone of the tarn [58,59]. The only identified fungal genus that represented at least 1% of reads was Betamyces, while the archaeal fraction of prokaryotes was negligible.…”

Study of the Bacterial, Fungal, and Archaeal Communities Structures near the Bulgarian Antarctic Research Base “St. Kliment Ohridski” on Livingston Island, Antarctica

“…Flavobacterium is more prevalent in the water column of shallower Antarctic lakes, correlating with its high presence in the sediment, and similar mixing could occur with the other genera [48]. Members of the genus Luteolibacter have been isolated from Arctic soils and Antarctic hypersaline brines, which could point to the more significant terrestrial influence at the littoral zone of the tarn [49,50]. The only identified fungal genus that represented at least 1% of reads was Betamyces, while the archaeal fraction of prokaryotes was negligible.…”

A Deep Insight into the Diversity of Microfungal Communities in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes

“…The internal transcribed spacer 2 region (ITS2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA was used as a DNA barcode for molecular species identification. Fungal ITS2 was amplified using the following primers: IlluAdp_ITS31_NeXTf 5 -CATCGATGAAGAACGCAG-3 and IlluAdp_ITS4_NeXTr5 -TCCTSCGCTTAT TGATATGC-3 [31]. Sequencing was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platforms, in paired-end form, following the standard protocols of the company EurofinsEurope Services (Germany).…”